Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has partnered with Perfect Corp to collaborate on a fresh-faced makeup virtual try-on experience.
The augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) beauty and fashion solutions provider will supply the innovative try-on beauty feature on the Walmart iOS app.
With the new solution, Walmart can expand its cosmetics offerings to customers prior to purchasing the products.
Perfect Corp’s technologies will offer customers lip colour, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, and other cosmetic products. With the new try-before-you-buy approach, the companies aim to increase adoption of AR solutions and higher conversion rates.
The companies stated that increasing AR and AI have become more ‘integral’ to delivering bespoke and sustainable shopping, allowing Walmart to “enhance the Walmart shopping journey, empowering customers to try-on multiple makeup shades in seconds through a hyper-realistic AR view.”
Meet your match. Explore our “Virtual Beauty Try-On” feature now live on the Walmart app. With over 1,400 AR-enabled cosmetics, customers can find their perfect look in real-time, with a virtual makeover experience at their fingertips. https://t.co/ZN8OBpatXq pic.twitter.com/syZ0o9fuRK
— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) October 6, 2023
Additionally, Walmart is leveraging Perfect Corp’s Face AI solution, which uses deep learning AI tools for hyperrealistic, AR-backed makeup filters. This allows consumers to try on cosmetic products digitally from across Walmart Beauty’s over 1,400 products in its lineup. Many of the top brands featured include Black Radiance, Almay, Maybelline, Covergirl, Revlon, Neutrogena, and many others.
Customers are also safeguarded as the technology platform does not store their data. Furthermore, Perfect Corp’s virtual try-on solution also provides a host of shades, glosses, and other features in seconds, significantly increasing the number of viewable products available.
The campaign supports Walmart’s pledge to sustainable fashion, eliminating physical product sampling and minimising product waste. These allow Walmart to meet its goals for sustainable shopping experiences by limiting its impact on the global environment.
Comments on Walmart AR Beauty Focus
Creighton Kiper, Vice President of Beauty, Walmart US, said in a statement,
“As a destination for beauty, we’re committed to identifying new and emerging opportunities to inspire our customers and create more personalized, seamless, customer centric shopping experiences. That’s why I’m so excited that Walmart is launching Beauty Virtual Try-On, to offer customers a more engaging and convenient try-on experience on the Walmart app”
Alice Chang, Chief Executive and Founder, Perfect Corp, added,
“As beauty customers turn to retailers for personalized advice and product recommendations, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Walmart to build an enhanced try-on experience with cutting-edge AI and AR technology. With hundreds of brands worldwide currently leveraging Perfect Corp.’s AI/AR virtual try-on solutions, we’re excited to make this technology more accessible to the thousands of customers who shop Walmart Beauty every day”
She added that as the companies ‘look to the future,’ AI and AR-powered technologies would “continue to be integral for Walmart and other retailers to engage customers and offer customized shopping experiences to all.”
Walmart Goes Virtual with AR Try-On Upgrades
News of the Walmart-Perfect Corp partnership comes after the former announced in late June last year it would update its shopping app with augmented reality solutions to improve retail experiences.
At the time, the iOS-based app would offer customers furniture, home decor, and other AR try-on and try-at-home experiences, leading to massive reductions in product returns and consumer waste, right from their smartphones and tablets.
For example, shoppers can leverage the digital assets uploaded to Walmart’s ‘View in your space’ feature, where they can overlay 3D assets in their physical spaces, complete with 1:1 dimensions.
Customers can also use haptics to manoeuvre the app and tap accessibility options like gesture and voice-based controls for people with disabilities.
Additionally, in September last year, Walmart unveiled virtual try-ons for clothing products, using its ‘Be Your Own Model’ application feature. With it, customers can access 3D digital catalogue assets backed by machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms.
The massive retailer’s Global Tech subdivision aims to innovate its digital and Web3 solutions for current and future AR services, using neural networks for simulating fabrics and leveraging digital twins rather than 3D models. Around 270,000 physical items were scanned and uploaded to the platform, providing a more “personalized and engaging” shopping experience.
In September this year, French beauty and cosmetics firm L’Oréal partnered with Perfect Corp and Ubitus KK for a month-long metaverse showroom experience to showcase its products worldwide.
At its Perfect Skin Expo, the three companies aimed to expand virtual shopping experiences for customers, showcasing L’Oréal’s Dermatological Beauty Division’s products. With a major lineup of beauty firms showcasing their product catalogues, the metaverse experience provided shoppers with bespoke virtual try-ons and, later, purchases on Taiwan’s eCommerce platforms momo and Shopee.
