The consumer experience is at the heart of the strategy

L'Oréal Luxe is investing in getting to know its consumers better. The Division’s database continued to grow in 2016, and now contains more than 60 million qualified leads. Getting to know consumers better is the first step to better understanding them and better meeting their expectations in a personalised way.

To better serve consumers, we need to know them well. One of the key tools for gaining that information is loyalty programmes, which continue to expand and have become real success drivers. Elite Rewards, rolled out by Lancôme in the United States, is just one example. L'Oréal Luxe continues to develop its expertise in the era of precision marketing, to deliver the right message, to the right people, at the right time. In the United States, the Black Opium perfume by Yves Saint Laurent used this approach to attract new generations, as did Énergie de vie by Lancôme, which successfully reached out to Millennials(1).

The L’Oréal Luxe brands are better connected to their consumers than ever, and are using digital technology to invent new relationships with them. Services now include video make-up tutorials by Giorgio Armani and the Vice Lipstick app by Urban Decay, which enables consumers to try about a hundred shades of lipstick before buying. Meanwhile, unique experiences, like launch parties filmed and shared on social media, embody the brands’ DNA.

Personalised products are symbolic of new luxury and an important trend for the future of L'Oréal Luxe. Kiehl’s launched Apothecary Preparations, a new personalised service that allows consumers to formulate skincare products based on their specific needs. Lancôme developed Le Teint Particulier, a foundation made in a "mini factory" at the point of sale from a selection of 22,000 possible pigment combinations. The product is available in several stores in the United States.