Shopping for the right hair color just got easier.
L’Oréal has partnered with Google Lens to innovate its Garnier Virtual Shade Selector so consumers can use virtual try-on tech from their smartphone. The collaboration marks Google Lens’ entree into the beauty sector. The initiative is currently being piloted at Walmart.
“L’Oréal has built long-standing relationships with Google, a global leader in technology, and Walmart, one of our biggest retail partners. As a leading beauty tech company, we are able to deliver best-in-class virtual try-on experiences across our brand portfolio and for partners like Amazon and Facebook, using our Modiface AR technology,” explained Nathalie Gerschtein, President of L’Oréal USA’s Consumer Products Division.
In early 2019 Garnier rolled out the mass market’s first Virtual Shade Selector, an AI-powered virtual tool by ModiFace, giving customers the opportunity to virtually try-on hair color at shelf in stores. The partnership with Google Lens looks to streamline the retail experience even further by offering the same capability through the convenience of a smartphone. “Google Lens offers us a new avenue to bring augmented reality to physical stores. We know our consumers are seeking increasingly personalized experiences and want to know what products are right for them, particularly for higher commitment categories like hair color,” said Nathalie.
Google Lens is an image-recognition technology that functions as a simple point-and-click feature. It allows a consumer to quickly identify an object through a visual analysis and gather any related information about that object. In the case of Garnier, the customer can simply point their camera lens at a box of Garnier hair color in the store, click, and be guided to the product page through the Google Lens recognition. (On an Android, Google Lens will open automatically as it’s pre-installed on cameras. On iPhones, users will need to first download the app.) This is the point where the two technologies from Google (visual) and ModiFace (3-D) merge. The customer can then choose to “try-on” that hair color or a variety of other colors that the Virtual Shade Selector suggests, all before they walk to the cashier.