Looking ahead in the new year, many businesses are looking ahead at new ways to engage and attract customers with personalized shopping experiences. Generative AI stands out as an important aspect of modern beauty business strategies, and many businesses are seeking new ways to integrate these cutting-edge tools. In the beauty and fashion industries, gen AI is transforming the ways customers interact with their favorite brands, providing access to inspiration, allowing personalized recommendations and customized products, and infusing new life into the ways consumers visualize beauty and fashion styles.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is artificial intelligence programming that is capable of producing something new from existing inputs. It uses image or text prompts provided by a user to create images, art, writing, video, or other creative products. These AI programs use existing versions of the requested content to learn how the end result should look, then produces something new based on the prompt provided.
AI tools such as Chat GPT are already impacting a variety of industries, and the beauty industry is no exception. Generative AI provides a brand new way for consumers to interact with their favorite brands, opening doors for more advanced product customization, enhancing the virtual try-on experience both in-store and at-home, and improving customer satisfaction overall.
The beauty industry can apply Gen AI in a variety of ways, from allowing virtual try-on of makeup, jewelry, or clothing to recommending new hairstyles or skincare using comprehensive facial analysis. AI is only getting more sophisticated, and Perfect Corp. strives to keep the beauty industry on the cutting edge.
Perfect Corp.’s Top 5 Generative AI Trend Predictions for the Beauty and Fashion Industries
Looking ahead into the new year, it’s clear AI’s influence will only grow stronger. Below are some of our predictions on Generative AI and the key tech trends 2024 may bring.
1. Text to Image, Image to Image, and Text to Video Generative AI Technologies Will Reimagine the Way Consumers Access Beauty and Fashion Inspiration
Previously, consumers sought inspiration from magazines, beauty websites, and celebrity styles. Although this was a good way to generate ideas and track trends, it could often lead to mishaps. After all, the way a style or trend will look when worn can vary greatly based on each specific consumer’s unique features.
This is where gen AI steps in. By allowing users to take a fashion trend or beauty inspo they’ve seen and apply it to their own face or body, they can see if the style fits their expectations before committing to it. AI can also help consumers generate new inspiration by combining existing trends or creating something entirely new.
Customers can access beauty inspiration via several inputs. A text prompt can generate a photo of the user in a particular style. An uploaded image can be combined with others to create a new fashion. Text prompts can even be converted into video, allowing a client to see their potential style from all angles.
2. Generative AI Will Take Personalization to Exciting New Frontiers in Beauty and Fashion
As gen AI provides more and more sophisticated results, it opens up the beauty industry to a level of personalization yet unseen. For clothing and jewelry businesses, this can allow customers to customize their items as they order, if a store is equipped to do so. However, the makeup, hair, and skincare industries are really where this personalization shines.
Generative AI programs for beauty are able to analyze a client’s facial features down to every wrinkle and dark spot. Such programs can identify a variety of skin conditions, assess a client’s natural coloring, and recommend products from acne medications and moisturizers to lipstick and eyeshadow colors. While experienced beauticians could also do this to an extent, there was a lot of trial and error involved, and fine details could easily be missed.
Now, a fully personalized skincare or makeup routine can be recommended in a single step. With the power of generative AI, clients can see the expected results projected before they even make a purchase.
3. Generative AI Will Drive Advancements in Virtual Try-On and Fitting
Today’s generative AI tech can take a photo or video of a potential customer, as well as a model of the item of interest, and perfectly map the item to the customer’s body.
By achieving new levels of accuracy in virtual try-ons, customers can be even more certain that a product will look how they expect before they commit their hard-earned money to it. As AI advances even further, it may even be used to create virtual fitting rooms, both online and in-store, that enable customers to try on products without ever laying hands on the actual garment. This streamlines the try-on process by removing the need to physically put on and take off the items, while still assuring the customer of satisfaction.
4. Generative AI Will Help Build a More Sustainable Future in Beauty and Fashion
Though it may not seem like computer programming could make that much difference in overall sustainability, the impact of generative AI extends far beyond the screen. Virtual try-on capabilities, for example, enable customers to try before they buy without having to leave home. This means that there are fewer returns from online purchases — returns that would have required additional packaging and fuel use for the return shipping. Many products also can’t be resold after being returned, particularly in the makeup and skincare industries, where reselling opened products may be a health risk. Reducing these returns reduces the amount of unused products ending up thrown out.
Some unsatisfied customers may also choose not to bother with a return, instead throwing out the unsatisfactory item even if it’s in perfectly good condition. If they can see how the product will look before purchasing, they’re more likely to be satisfied with the fit when it arrives, reducing these instances of waste, as well.
AI try-ons also reduce waste in physical stores, as physically fitting clothing can cause items to become damaged and be thrown out. This also means fewer open-box testers for makeup, hair, and skin products, reducing waste of such items. Instead, a customer can test a new shade of lipstick or blush fully virtually.
5. Generative AI Will Fuel Significant Revenue Growth in Beauty and Fashion
As mentioned above, generative AI and virtual try-ons reduce returns by allowing customers to see how an item will look before they finalize the purchase. Not only does this help the environment, this also helps a business’s bottom line. Fewer returns mean less shrink in a store’s inventory from returned items that can’t be resold. Increasing customer satisfaction can also lead to more repeat sales, whereas unsatisfied customers may be less likely to try to purchase again.
Adding AI to an online store also provides a business with a wider audience. If customers can only try on products by physically traveling to the store, it may limit the number of customers a store can bring in. When potential customers can browse and try on products from an online store, it doesn’t matter how close they are to the brick-and-mortar business. Customer access can be expanded much further, even internationally.
Stay Ahead of the Latest Tech Trends with Perfect Corp.
Generative AI will be a driving force in improving customer satisfaction throughout the beauty and fashion industries. In order to compete in the modern market, beauty brands need to stay in the know on how these AI tools and technologies are advancing. Gen AI will soon play a key role in attracting and engaging new customers. Stay on the cutting edge of AI tech trends in 2024 with Perfect Corp.’s generative AI beauty and fashion tech solutions. Contact us for a demonstration of how generative AI can enhance any fashion or beauty business.
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