The luxury beauty consumer experience is evolving: expert’s view

Langer will be speaking on ‘The Future of Luxury’ as the keynote at the upcoming Innocos beauty knowledge-sharing and networking event.

Innocos is set to take place in Florence, Italy at The Grand Hotel Mediterraneo, June 13-15, 2018, with full details available here​​.

Can you give an overview of Équité?​

Équité is a leading luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand development group focusing on elevating the positioning of brands to significantly accelerate their growth, profitability and brand valuation.

We support our clients in mastering the massive disruption today’s brands are confronted through digitalization, technology shifts, hyper-competition and the need to create memorable brand experiences.

We work worldwide in consumer and prestige beauty, fashion & apparel, hospitality, services and automotive, to name a few. Among our clients are brand icons like Ferrari.

Luxury consumers buy an experience. But not just an ordinary experience, they want to be surprised, indulged and wowed.

And the brand becomes more important than specifics of the product. This is where many brands fail.

They focus too much on product features and not enough on a brand experience that resonates with consumers.

And with millennial consumers, the times of “bullsh*t” are over. They seek for authenticity, question promises, reject junk ingredients, demand products that give them perceivable benefits.

The times of overpromising and underdelivering are over.

How are products evolving? And how can brands respond?​

Sustainability is one of the key disrupting forces in luxury across all categories. But ethical shopping is difficult.

Origin, quality and ecological impact of ingredients, production and logistics - factors that are difficult to evaluate for consumers.

However, because there is a high awareness, those brands who can build transparent and sustainable business models will be the brands of the future.

I see sustainability as one of the most promising fields for competitive advantage and creativity that can catapult a brand forward.

But lip service is not enough. Holistic, sustainable concepts are needed. It is one of the areas we work with our clients.

Do you predict any major disruptions are going to affect the luxury beauty market moving forward?​

There are several major disruptions. The face of luxury will change. Millennials, digitalization, technology shifts, ethical shopping, outsiders who offer new business models, aggregators who combine services in a drastically more convenient ways.

Brands that will have a better understanding of their consumers and act consumer-centric will win.

This requires change beyond the comfort zone. But being comfortable is no option anymore for luxury beauty.

Any other thoughts?​

Working with some of the best luxury brands in the world but also with highly disruptive luxury startups that think out of the box and are eager to redefine and reshape the face of luxury inspires us every day.

The face of luxury will change. Fast. Brutal for those who approach today’s world with old concepts and old thinking.

Luxury will always be relevant. But its expressions will change and evolve with the way consumers’ expectations change. We want our clients to lead the change.