MAC Cosmetics Targets Gen-Z Consumers With Phygital China Concept Store – PSFK

MAC Cosmetics is looking to target Gen-Z consumers in Shanghai, China with a new kind of store that merges the online and the offline. The Estée Lauder-owned brand performed six months of consumer research that informed the location’s creation, including focus groups, walk throughs and exit interviews.

The researched gathered influenced design and tech elements of the store, granting customers a more personalized and dynamic journey. Features include stationary digital screens at the store’s entrance that invite customers to scan their phones and check into MAC’s WeChat mini-program, and smart mirrors in the lipstick section that enable customers to try on 18 different shades virtually through augmented reality. Further, infrared touchscreens can scan a shopper’s face and prescribe a foundation shade.

Other beauty companies like CoverGirl and Bourjois are following the tech trend by experimenting with digital try-on concepts. Beauty giant Sephora has been also working to enable similar virtual and interactive features into stores worldwide.

MAC Cosmetics

This is just one example of how retailers are using tech integrations at various customer journey touchpoints to enable personalized, data-informed experiences. For more insight into ways brands are marshaling customer data, see PSFK’s Shopper Data Debrief, which outlines how retailers can leverage new tools to capture shopper information in the physical store, creating a mutually beneficial value exchange that allows them to refine operations and offer a more personalized in-store experience. 

This report is part of a series focusing on retail innovation and customer experience to inspire the members of our business intelligence services. For a copy of the report, please visit: psfk.com/shopper-data-debrief

MAC Cosmetics is looking to target Gen-Z consumers in Shanghai, China with a new kind of store that merges the online and the offline. The Estée Lauder-owned brand performed six months of consumer research that informed the location’s creation, including focus groups, walk throughs and exit interviews.

The researched gathered influenced design and tech elements of the store, granting customers a more personalized and dynamic journey. Features include stationary digital screens at the store’s entrance that invite customers to scan their phones and check into MAC’s WeChat mini-program, and smart mirrors in the lipstick section that enable customers to try on 18 different shades virtually through augmented reality. Further, infrared touchscreens can scan a shopper’s face and prescribe a foundation shade.