Alibaba taps Perfect Corp for beauty AR tech

Dive Brief:

Perfect Corp., an augmented reality beauty company, is partnering with the Alibaba Group to integrate its YouCam virtual try-on technology into Tmall and Taobao, the company announced in a press release last week.
Using the Perfect Corp. technology, shoppers can use AR technology to try on various beauty products such as lipstick, blush and eyeliner across Alibaba's online platforms before making a purchase, per the release.
The goal of the partnership is to increase Taobao and Tmall e-commerce sales and improve overall customer satisfaction by using Perfect Corp.'s technology to boost shopper engagement.

Dive Insight:

The Perfect Corp. partnership with Alibaba is the latest collaboration between the creator of YouCam and companies like Elizabeth Arden and QVC. For the last few years, Perfect Corp. has been developing artificial intelligence and augmented reality technology for small businesses and beauty brands to allow consumers to test out makeup before buying it and, in turn, boost sales for cosmetics companies. For Perfect Corp., it made sense for the company to enter the Chinese market, the company's founder and CEO Alice Chang said.

"China is one of the major markets in the beauty industry. The groundbreaking strategic partnership with Alibaba group had positioned Perfect Corp.'s Beauty SaaS solutions as the recognized solution for global brands in digital transformation," Chang said in a statement.

Perfect Corp. isn't the only company leveraging Alibaba for entering into the Chinese market. Various brands and retailers, including Fenty Beauty, H&M and Amazon, have used Tmall and other Alibaba platforms to reach Chinese consumers.

This partnership is also the latest effort Alibaba has made to broaden its reach. The e-commerce giant created an English-language site to attract more brands and introduced its platform to American companies. Adding Perfect Corp.'s AR capabilities seems to be another strategy aimed at improving its customer service offerings.

"In the next three years, innovative technology will be the key to driving increased sales. Especially in the beauty industry, technology will bring the biggest change for young generations to purchase products," Mike Hu, GM of Tmall FMCG, Alibaba Group, said in the statement. "We need the innovative technology to level up the consumer experience, and also the product experience, shopping experience to fulfill the demands of our customers."

The collaboration is the latest example of beauty brands crafting or adopting technology to interact with beauty consumers. Companies like Ulta and L'Oreal have done the same.