L’Oréal partners with TikTok to test e-commerce tools

L’Oréal is partnering with TikTok to test e-commerce in the ultra-popular app. Starting today, customers are able to purchase products directly from the U.K. accounts of two of the beauty giant’s major brands—Garnier and NYX Professional Make-Up—as well as through creator-driven content. L’Oréal claims to be the first international beauty company to take part in an e-commerce pilot program TikTok started last month with brands in the U.K. around new ways to sell products within the app. Streetwear brand Hype was one of the first, and now others are signing up to experiment. Brands are hoping to replicate some of the e-commerce power brands have seen in China where TikTok’s China-based cousin Douyin brought in $26 million in e-commerce sales in its first year. Beauty brands like L’Oréal’s NYX Cosmetics, E.l.f Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty have become especially popular on TikTok, and have seen e-commerce sales spike during the pandemic. Visitors to Garnier’s UK and Ireland TikTok account @garnierUK, with 33,700 followers, and NYX Cosmetics' U.K. account @nyxcosmetics_uk, with 286,000 followers, will find product links embedded in short video posts, livestreams and in a special TikTok Product showcase tab, found between the brand's main TikTok feed and the liked videos tab. For the pilot program, the brands are working with 14 TikTok creators, including Char Barker @charbarker, who has 98,300 followers, Kaushal @kaushal, with 96,200 followers, and Tiffany @illumin_arty, who has 2.3 million followers and was previously a contestant on Netflix’s “Glow Up.” Each creator is promoting the ability to shop directly from the app, and highlighting a different product for sale. Viewers of Tiffany’s TikTok post can tap directly on a product link to purchase the product, in this case, NYX Cosmetics’ Sweet Cheeks Soft Cheek Tint. The product link appears just above the creator’s name. Bradshaw-Zanger, CMO of L’Oréal UK and Ireland, says linking content to commerce through influencers will “provide frictionless customer journeys.” “The aim is to create a seamless, in-app shopping experience that shortens the customer journey,” he says. The pilot program also allows the French beauty giant to connect further with Gen Zers on the platform and acts as a means to invest further in e-commerce, which has boomed over the past year during the pandemic. Bradshaw-Zanger says that online sales are now reaching more than a quarter of the company’s total sales. In its latest earnings report, L’Oréal saw sales reach $9.1 billion in the three months to March, with e-commerce growth up by 47%, accounting for 26.8% of sales, or roughly $2.4 billion. Bradshaw-Zanger says the brand is continuing to prioritize and invest in content-driven commerce innovations. Over the past year, L’Oréal UK and Ireland has run several live shopping events with its cosmetics and skincare brands such HelloLisa, Replica and affiliate platforms. “After a year of lockdown, which saw e-commerce sales increase at a significant scale, and with influencer engagement continually growing, combining the two makes perfect sense,” says Bradshaw-Zanger. “By working with creators who know and understand our brands, we are able to seamlessly link content to commerce—tapping into the fact beauty is a hugely successful category on TikTok. Here in the U.K., e-commerce is now well-established, and the maturity of the market means we are able to test new models and provide innovative purchasing experiences for our brands.”

L’Oréal partners with TikTok to test e-commerce tools

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