At Accelerated Analytics, I work with over 20 beauty brands to supply key reports and analysis of how their products are performing at their retail stores. Our expertise, based on years of working with beauty retailers like Dillard’s, Ulta, Sephora and Nordstrom, help account executives, planners and sales reps to track sales to goals, store display marketing, promotional effectiveness and inventory stock levels. I joined the WWD Digital Beauty Forum in New York on Tuesday to hear where the beauty industry is going with digital marketing and social media. 
It was an inspiring day! From hearing how the Estee Lauder brand Smashbox is revolutionizing how to use social media influencers to expand their brand awareness, to learning how beauty brands like NYX and Shiseido are using digital technologies to expand social experiences online and in stores to broaden their customers’ experiences was mind blowing. In the ever-important retail need to address the increasing customer desire to have an experience, and not just shop, the beauty industry is using technology in a variety of ways to personalize what they can do for their customers and make their brand fresh, exciting and fun!
Beauty products are personal. Ecommerce efforts to use digital technology to put colors and skin care effects into a virtual customer’s hands live, is amazing. When a customer is in a store, actually touching products, digital technology gives shoppers a hands-on experience to custom-tailor products. Events and contests around pop-up stores is getting more and more common.
What resonated the most with me is, with so much activity and options for shoppers, and the very fast pace of beauty sales, the ability to see what is selling organically and where inventory is at all times is critical. I’m excited that our solution helps my beauty customers, like Coty, L’Oreal, Bvlgari and Parlux, to get the insights they need, when they need it, and gives them the opportunity to expand their digital reach to customers and react quickly when these initiatives take off!