If the future of beauty has knocked on our doors, it has not arrived bearing a mirror alone. It has come armed with algorithms, augmented realities, and an almost uncanny understanding of who we are, what we seek, and how we choose. For Saloni Shah Javeri, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, L’Oréal India, the future has never been a distant horizon to be speculated upon; it has been a living, breathing present that has demanded both imagination and intent.
“At L’Oréal India, we’re incredibly excited about the convergence of AI and immersive technologies in beauty marketing,” she said. “AI and Gen AI have been revolutionary technologies, and we believe they have had the power to enhance and personalise the beauty experience like never before.”
In Javeri’s vision, technology has not replaced human aspiration, it has refined it.
“AI has been transforming how we approach creativity in beauty, enabling us to produce more personalised content, develop innovative beauty services, and even reinvent the consumer search experience,” she added. “Integrating Virtual Try-On technology and AR-enabled brand store experiences has allowed consumers to visualise products before purchase.”
She also pointed to the Maybelline Lipstick Finder on Amazon as a telling example, “a great demonstration of how insights, when merged with technology, AI and personalisation, have created state-of-the-art experiences with consumers at the core of it all.”
This has perhaps been the clearest articulation of L’Oréal’s philosophy for the years ahead: the future has belonged to brands that have fused science with sensitivity, and data with desire.
Seizing What Has Been Starting
Long before the future has become fashionable, L’Oréal India has already begun preparing for it.
“At L’Oréal, we have believed in ‘seizing what is starting,’ and it has been no different when it has come to the e-commerce boom,” Javeri reflected. “We have been at the forefront of adapting and scaling on e-commerce when the market and capabilities have been growing.”
The rise of online shopping in India has not merely been a shift in transaction, it has been a tectonic change in how beauty has been discovered, discussed and decided.
“The e-commerce boom in India has fundamentally transformed our brand-building and consumer acquisition approach at L’Oréal,” she explained. “It has become imperative for us to look for the right consumer signals in the ever-evolving digital and e-commerce worlds.”
For L’Oréal, digital has not been a channel; it has been an ecosystem.
“Technology has been at a turning point, and its potential has profoundly impacted all walks of our consumers’ lives,” Saloni noted. “Digitalisation and technology have disrupted the ‘rules of engagement’ with consumers.”
What has followed has been a decade-long reimagining of the beauty journey itself.
“We have been digitalising the beauty consumer journey over the decade, with new touchpoints, new adapted content, new influence, new channels and new services,” she said.
Platforms like Amazon have played a pivotal role in this transformation.
“Amazon has enabled us to connect with consumers across metros and tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” Javeri added, “with their suite of ad solutions, sponsored ads, display ads and brand stores, enhancing product discovery across beauty categories.”
Beyond reach, collaboration has truly mattered.
“Through co-created shopping events and joint business planning, we have driven sustainable growth in the digital space,” she said.
Retail Media: Where Intent Has Met Imagination
If e-commerce has been the first wave, retail media has been the tide that has followed, stronger, smarter and infinitely more precise.
“Retail media networks have become instrumental in how we have engaged with consumers at L’Oréal,” Javeri asserted. “Rich consumer insights and high-intent shopper signals based on browsing and purchase behavior have been critical for advertisers like us to optimize our spends and improve both effectiveness and efficiencies.”
Personalisation, here, has not been cosmetic, it has been consequential.
“On the personalisation front, the L’Oréal Professionnel x Amazon WhatsApp e-consultation services have provided personalized product recommendations, creating a seamless journey from consultation to purchase on Amazon,” she explained.
Perhaps the most defining illustration of retail media’s potential has come with CeraVe.
“Amazon and L’Oréal have partnered in a first-of-its-kind derma-focused launch for CeraVe,” Saloni said, “with the aim to create the dermatological beauty category on Amazon that has offered derm-prescribed solutions that are safe, trustworthy and effective.”
The initiative has gone beyond commerce into care.
“We have created the ‘Dermat Corner,’ where consumers have been able to book appointments for consultations with dermatologists,” she has added. “This insight-led planning and execution, along with optimisation of inputs and a comprehensive ads strategy, has led to a stellar launch and quick scale-up of CeraVe on Amazon.”
From Awareness to Action- Seamlessly
In a world where fragmentation has been the norm, L’Oréal’s ambition has been cohesion. “Partners have now offered comprehensive full-funnel solutions that we have been leveraging strategically at L’Oréal India,” Javeri explained. “With Amazon Ads, we have connected upper-funnel brand awareness through video and CTV on Prime Video, mid-funnel consideration, and lower-funnel conversion through advanced audience targeting, first-party data integration and AI-powered solutions.”
The result has not been noise, but narrative. “This integrated methodology has ensured consistent premium brand messaging while leveraging Amazon Ads’ unique retail signals,” she has said.
A milestone moment has followed. “L’Oréal has been the first beauty advertiser to go live with Prime Video ads in India,” Saloni shared. “The platform has helped us reach highly engaged video viewers for relevant brands across all our divisions.”
Behind the scenes, intelligence has powered intuition. “Solutions like Amazon Marketing Cloud have empowered us to derive advanced insights and action them by creating high-value audiences,” she added, “enabling us to seamlessly guide consumers from discovery to purchase.”
The Beauty of What Has Come Next
As the conversation has returned to the future, one truth has remained unmistakable: for Javeri and L’Oréal India, tomorrow has not been about chasing trends, it has been about designing experiences.
Experiences that have listened before they have spoken. Experiences that have informed without overwhelming. Experiences where technology has served humanity, not the other way around.
In an age where brands have often shouted to be seen, L’Oréal, under Javeri’s digital stewardship, has appeared intent on something far rarer: to understand, to anticipate, and to arrive just in time, armed with relevance, respect and remarkable beauty.
