L’Oréal joins TikTok UK commerce pilot – 'the next frontier' for beauty

Garnier and NYX Professional Make-Up products were now available to purchase directly via TikTok in the UK, either on each beauty brands’ own page or those of other relevant content creators.

The move formed part of L’Oréal’s wider strategy to build on user-friendly and creative e-commerce platform presence, extending efforts it had made with a variety of live shopping events over the past year. 

TikTok – a social media platform that had become increasingly important in beauty​ – had been testing its pilot e-commerce feature for some time and the onboarding of L’Oréal represented the first international beauty brand to join.

Beauty’s future – from influencer to content to commerce​

“Social commerce is truly the next frontier for beauty sales, after livestreaming and live shopping,” ​said Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, chief marketing officer at L’Oréal UK and Ireland.

“Connecting the already enormous influencer and creator community with the ability to make sales through TikTok is a step forward in improving the consumer experience, linking content to commerce and creating a more fluid and seamless purchasing experience for our customers,”​ Bradshaw-Zanger said.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Europe, he said the move to onboard the Garnier and NYX Professional Make-Up brands had been strategic.

“Garnier and NYX Professional Make-Up have both already seen high levels of engagement on TikTok in the UK and the brands have long-standing relationships with creators on the channel who produce high quality, engaging content that resonates with our customers. Combining an easy-to-use commerce function with this popular content is the clear next step in evolving the customer experience to make the journey from influencer to content to commerce as smooth as possible.”​

A 'frictionless customer experience' that ​appeals to all​

“…Social commerce allows us to seamlessly link content to commerce, creating a frictionless customer experience from the moment a product catches someone’s eye to the purchasing of the product,” ​he said.

And the ability to purchase Garnier and NYX products directly in TikTok’s app would not only appeal to existing consumers but could also potentially draw in a new audience, Bradshaw-Zanger said.

“We are just at the beginning of this journey with TikTok in the UK and look forward to continuing this great partnership and expanding the products and brands we have using the feature and others as the platform evolves.” ​

A timely move – ‘this is an exciting time for e-commerce’​

Bradshaw-Zanger said the move was also a timely one for L’Oréal UK & Ireland, given the rising important of online sales for the global L’Oréal group – now one-quarter of total worldwide sales​.

“E-commerce, and social commerce in particular, has grown significantly for us over the past year, in part a result of lockdowns but equally because creator content has become increasingly popular and resulted in a growth of brand collaborations,”​ he said.

Over the past 12 months, L’Oréal UK & Ireland had run “a variety of live shopping events across cosmetics and skin care brands”​ via various partnerships, he said, including work with live video stream specialist Hello Lisa and social-selling specialist Replika Software.

“The business is continuing to prioritise and invest in consumer centric content-to-commerce innovation. This is an exciting time for e-commerce,”​ he said.