Sampo Parkkinen is the CEO and founder of Revieve, a personalized digital brand experience company in beauty, skin, health and wellness.
In today’s globalized market, beauty brands and retailers are discovering that a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer sufficient. Accessing and analyzing regional data has become essential for staying relevant and competitive.
This strategic necessity highlights how understanding consumers’ unique preferences, needs and behaviors across different regions can drive growth in a rapidly evolving industry.
Why Understanding Regional Nuances In Beauty Preferences Is Crucial
The beauty industry is closely tied to cultural identities, climates and social norms, making it essential to understand regional nuances. Consumers’ beauty routines, product preferences and brand expectations vary by environment, so adapting to these differences is crucial for success.
Consumers in Asian Pacific countries, for example, look for innovative and high-tech skincare products and for ones that offer urban pollution protection, according to my company’s latest report. In contrast, Europe emphasizes natural and organic products due to environmental concerns and colder climates.
Additionally, Asian consumers are among the most tech-savvy in the world, as highlighted by Mintel, with 49% of Chinese adults agreeing that when purchasing goods, AI-generated suggestions or solutions are more authentic and reliable than those provided by humans.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the diversity of the population results in a wide array of skincare concerns, from acne to aging. U.S. consumers are open to experimentation and often seek tailored skincare solutions that address specific concerns such as acne, aging and hyperpigmentation. According to a recent Mintel report, 28% of U.S. consumers say they would be interested in trying hyper-personalized products (i.e., products developed through biometric data) and would be willing to pay more for them.
Data-Driven Precision: Optimizing Supply Chains And Inventory
Regional data reveals nuanced consumer preferences, allowing beauty brands to tailor offerings to specific markets.
This information is also vital for refining product assortments, optimizing supply chains and managing inventory. For instance, high add-to-cart and checkout rates in the Middle East might highlight strong demand for premium skincare. Brands can use demand forecasting to anticipate this trend and adjust inventory accordingly, increasing profitability and enhancing reliability.
Studies have highlighted the importance of this approach. For example, research by Launchmetrics shows that brands that tailor their strategies to regional nuances and local preferences tend to achieve better results, as consumers feel more understood when brands cater to their specific preferences.
Furthermore, regional data can reveal emerging trends, allowing brands to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.
Utilizing Regional Insights For Strategic Advantage
To fully capitalize on regional insights, beauty brands must integrate this data into every aspect of their operations, from product development to marketing to supply chain management:
1. Tailored Product Development: Brands can use regional data to develop products that cater to specific market needs. For instance, understanding the preference for multifunctional, high-tech products in one region can guide brands to create skincare lines that meet the demands of tech-savvy consumers.
2. Localized Marketing Campaigns: Marketing strategies can be fine-tuned based on regional data, ensuring that messages resonate with local audiences. In Europe, where sustainability is a growing concern, brands might emphasize their eco-friendly packaging. In the Middle East, the focus could be on the luxurious qualities of their products.
3. Optimized Supply Chains: Regional data is also invaluable for optimizing supply chains. By forecasting demand more accurately, brands can manage inventory more efficiently, reducing waste and ensuring that popular products are always in stock.
Leveraging AI With Regional Data
The integration of AI with regional data can further enhance its value. For example, AI models can offer:
• Enhanced Prediction Accuracy: By feeding AI models with region-specific data, brands can forecast consumer behavior more accurately, reducing the risk of overproduction or understocking.
• Personalized Consumer Experiences: AI can utilize granular data to create personalized product recommendations and marketing messages, fostering deeper connections with consumers.
• Strategic Decision-Making: Insights derived from regional data can guide broader business strategies from product launches to market expansions.
Custom AI models tailored to your business’s objectives can be particularly useful. For beauty brands, this means innovating product development by identifying trends or creating new revenue streams through hyper-personalized experiences.
Best Practices For Using Regional Data And AI
While regional data can provide invaluable insights for beauty brands, it also presents several challenges.
One common issue is misinterpreting data. Regional trends can often reflect short-term shifts rather than long-term consumer preferences. To avoid this, brands should blend quantitative data with qualitative insights—cultural, seasonal and environmental factors can all influence consumer behavior.
It can also be difficult to make this data actionable within a company. Often, leadership teams don’t know the right questions to ask their data analysts. For instance, rather than looking solely at sales figures, brands should ask specific, insight-driven questions such as, “What are the emerging skincare concerns in Southeast Asia?” or “Which beauty trends in the Middle East are likely to persist?” This approach ensures that teams are working with meaningful insights that can drive product development, marketing and inventory strategies.
Brands can take a proactive approach by incorporating zero-party data (voluntarily shared by consumers) and first-party data (gathered directly from customer interactions). To further enhance regional insights, brands can collaborate with data analysis companies or solution providers specializing in data insights and AI. These firms transform raw data into detailed regional reports that provide insights into local preferences, market dynamics and emerging trends.
By leveraging these services, along with internal data and AI-driven experiences, brands can swiftly identify opportunities, create personalized experiences, and design hyper-localized campaigns that resonate with diverse consumer bases. This combination of external expertise and internal agility ensures that brands stay ahead of the competition and continuously adapt to evolving regional trends.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
