50 Innovators of the Year 2021
CIO Bulletin
The beauty industry has always been associated with artistic values and away from modern-day tech. But at the golden age of Artificial Intelligence, the world has recognized the importance of modern tech to innovate the beauty industy. One of the companies is Perfect Corp., which has transformed the beauty industry in a way never thought before. We interviewed the folks at Perfect Corp. to get privileged insights into the services they offer. Here are some of the important takeaways from the interview.
How and why did the firm get the idea of marrying the beauty industry with augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology?
Perfect Corp. founder and CEO Alice Chang identified a need and use for augmented reality and artificial intelligence in the beauty space as a way to improve the consumer shopping and product trial experience. She recognized how AR and AI technology could curb consumer pain points eliminating messy and unhygienic product swatching and expensive product waste from sampling and replacing them with hyper-realistic virtual try-on experiences. She also saw a place for beauty tech to integrate across all touchpoints, including mobile, online, and in-store.
Why is makeup technology Perfect Corp.’s strong suit?
The answer lies in Perfect Corp.’s unprecedented hyper-realistic virtual try-on effects, which is based on decades of machine learning algorithms, live facial feature point tracking, and whole-face 3D mesh modeling that ensure the virtual experience rivals that of a physical one. The YouCam difference combines 3D facial mapping, skin tone matching, and adaptive lighting features to deliver digital results in .02 seconds and 98.5% precision rate matching the exact color and finish of more than 250,000 products. This level of accuracy has enabled brands and beauty lovers to rely on YouCam’s Beauty Tech Solutions as a means of helping them make more confident purchase decisions. Additionally, new AgileFace tracking technology detects over 200+ facial landmark tracking points in real-time, with a 20% increase in face landmark tracking accuracy, and 200% improvement for jitter-free tracking for the most realistic results imaginable. This level of accuracy has enabled brands and beauty lovers to rely on YouCam’s Beauty Tech Solutions as a means of helping them make more confident purchase decisions, driving a 2.5X conversion rate, and 8% decrease in returns, proving the virtual try-on experience serves as a utility for the beauty shopper.
What products are available under YouCam for Web and Enterprise solutions? Explain its significance.
YouCam for Web is a self-service subscription-based service that helps brands seamlessly integrate the virtual try-on experience across their brand website. This service includes virtual try-on capabilities for dozens of product categories, including eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick, blush, mascara, and more. For those small and medium businesses powered
by Shopify’s e-commerce platform, we also offer a special “YouCam Makeup for Shopify” solution. This self-service solution enables Shopify merchants to easily integrate virtual try-on capabilities across their online store without the need for extensive engineering and IT teams. The one-click install doesn’t require any coding and eliminates the need for timely and expensive setup or development.
Enterprise Solutions, on the other hand, are a more customized approach to beauty tech with a range of services that span from virtual try-on for more extensive product categories (like highlight, concealer, and eye color) to instant AI skincare diagnostic, AI hair color try-on, and AI Shade Finder and product recommendation technology. Enterprise solutions also include interactive services like Beauty Advisor 1-on-1 for personalized online beauty consultations and AR Livestreaming for a one-to-many video broadcast experience.
Tell us about your real-time video chat Beauty Advisor service? How do you help your customers?
The Beauty Advisor 1-on-1 service is an on-demand digital beauty consultation where users can connect with a beauty professional via real-time video chat through the phone. This virtual beauty consultation safely and conveniently reimagines the beauty counter experience through a digital lens. Besides providing the convenience of on-demand beauty advice for consumers at the tap of a button, the experience is complete with virtual try-on technology that allows the beauty pro to help you virtually try-on products and looks with a tap. This interactive, personalized experience speaks to the modern-day consumer and delivers on a consumer-centric shopping journey.
How does Beauty Live Training work?
Beauty Advisor Live Training is an enterprise solution that brands can leverage for internal training purposes, which allows a brand representative to broadcast live via a private brand channel for product briefings, training tutorials, company updates, etc. Brands have a private livestream channel that can be accessed by their beauty advisors around the world, who can tune into the live company updates and training—a tool that has proven especially beneficial during the pandemic with large shifts to work-from-home throughout lockdown. The Beauty Advisor Live Training became an essential tool for brands to remain connected, productive, and engaged with their staff despite these disconnected times isolated at home. The live casting experience is also complete with audience commenting and polls and interactive try-ons that allow the viewers to virtually try-on and experience the products or looks featured throughout the tutorial or training despite being at home.
How did you overcome the challenges you faced in the initial years of growth?
As a beauty tech company, we continued to recognize how our services could bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds by providing a safer, more satisfying, and more efficient beauty shopping experience for brands, retailers, and consumers. The proof is in the pudding with virtual try- on effects that rival physical try-ons and continue to prove a true utility that drives results for brands and retailers. By continuing to listen, learn, and innovate as we gained feedback from early adopters and consumers, we’ve been able to develop and create the beauty tech solutions that best speak to the industry as a whole and drive the most impactful results.
Where do you envision the company’s future in the coming years?
Our plans for the future of Perfect Crop. are to continue working smarter and faster, adapting to the never-ending changes happening in the real and digital worlds around us. This means expanding our advanced Skin Tech innovations to meet the category’s growing demand, developing new services and solutions. We are also rolling out interactive AR and AI-powered experiences to engage consumers on the brand’s websites and prepare for the return to in-store with reimagined experiential digital try-on and safe, convenient touchless mechanisms that enhance the in-store experience. We believe AI will continue to drive the next big upgrade to the consumer digital journey and target to deliver personalized product and shade matching technologies like AI Skin Tech and AI ShadeFinder, to cater to that demand.
About the CEO
Alice H. Chang is the Founder and CEO of Perfect Corp., the leading beauty tech solutions provider, and developer of the
award-winning YouCam suite of apps. She is one of the first visionaries at the intersection of technology and beauty. Her vision of a more convenient consumer beauty shopping experience came to life through the creation of Perfect Corp. and a suite of AI and AR apps that includes the award-winning YouCam Makeup, YouCam Perfect, and YouCam Video. Leveraging her highly successful technology experience, she’s been able to upend and entirely recreate the consumer, retailer, and brand shopping journey in stores, online, and on mobile, introducing a true omnichannel consumer experience.
Get in touch : www.perfectcorp.com
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