Who sets the beauty tech trend in Japan?

It’s not the celebrities, the social media influencers nor the cosmetic giants.

In a survey conducted last year by BeautyTech.jp, they found that a very small segment of the market known as the “innovator-type” is largely shaping how products are developed and accepted by the mainstream.

The “Level of Beauty Tech” survey, perhaps the first ever conducted in Japan, aims to find out the extent to which consumers are using beauty technology such as smart mirrors and apps.

The results of the survey were presented last December 3 at BeautyTech.jp’s anniversary conference.

Thousands of @cosme members across the country who hold the “Producer Member” status were surveyed online last September 4–7, 2018. It produced a large sample of 9,176 responses.

The survey was arranged into seven sections that measured the attitudes toward different elements of both beauty and technology. Each answer equates to a numerical score.

The Level of Beauty was determined by three levels of Low, Medium, and High, as was the Level of Tech (with an added top level of “Super High”).

Both levels were multiplied together, allowing ten possible levels with the lower being Low x Low (LL) and the highest, High x Super High (HSH).

At the conference, survey planner and researcher Yukari Akiyama explained that people in the LofBT range of HH made up only 7% of the total population. Within that group, only 2% were HSH (High x Super High).

These “super tech” people can be further divided into two categories. The first one is the “innovator-type.” They try out new beauty technology as soon as it’s released.

The second one or the core group, which make up 90% of the HSH, first collect information from product reviews and viewing demonstrations before deciding to use the technology or deem it necessary.

Most of the information comes from the initial assessment of the “innovator-types.”

Akiyama explains that both types of HSH have strong communication skills. They actively convey their insights, impressions, and gathered information. HSHs feel happy when their knowledge and experience prove useful to other people.

The trends of early adopters of the HH level rely heavily upon the HSHs.

Breaking the ice

President and Representative Director of Dentsu Consulting Inc. Yuji Mori added that the mentality that anything new or unknown is still considered scary, therefore, the key to “breaking this ice” lies in what people whom you trust are saying about the product.

The people are not necessarily TV or movie celebrities or professional critics, but the candid and honest opinions of people in social media communities associated with high LofBT. It can also sometimes be beauty advisors in brick and mortar stores.

Junko Mizobuchi, Senior PR Manager of Amazon Japan, explained that the role of HSH innovators can largely influence product developers and not just potential end users.

Amazon, who has an extremely wide user demographic, listens to user feedback in improving their products and services especially when they introduce a new one to the market.

She says technology really starts to evolve from the stage when the HSH innovators first get their hands on it and the HH early adopters send out their impressions.

“Chasm Wall”

When it comes to buying beauty products, online stores, including apps, still have not surpassed the strong brick-and-mortar stores.

In the same survey, participants were asked which beauty apps they download and actually use. Results show that there is still no app that has surpassed the user rate of 16% — otherwise known in Japan as the “chasm* wall.” The rate in Japan of cosmetics and pharmaceutical fields transitioning to E-commerce was still at a low level of 5% in 2017.

Customer attraction

Yorinobu Isozaki, the Japan President and GM of PERFECT Corp., developer of AR virtual makeup app YouCam Makeup, said the usage of YouCam tech in retail settings is expanding. He revealed the installation of this tech is not just to attract customers. It has a clear purpose of collecting user data.

Isozaki explained that users of YouCam Makeup usually try on products such as lipsticks for about 16 to 17 different colors each time.

From this “trying out” behavior, they can gather data on what products, which maker, and which color are most popular, and which are eventually purchased after being tried on.

He said it is important “in order to collect good quality data so that customers use the system continuously.”

*Here “chasm” refers to the line that can’t easily be crossed when expanding share in markets of technology-based products and services. Conversely, this line needs to be crossed in order to succeed to the extent of monopolizing the market.

Text: Christine Roque
Original text (Japanese): Ayako Sogo