Signals

UK – The Future Laboratory and AI skincare brand Renude co-hosted a breakfast briefing earlier this month at The Curve Club in Shoreditch to explore The Future of Intelligent Beauty and debut Renude’s AI-powered Skin Chat tool.

The session opened with insights from The Future Laboratory’s insights and engagement director Olivia Houghton and senior foresight analyst Alice Crossley, who outlined how trends such as Accredited Beauty, EQ-Commerce and The Synthocene Era are converging to move the beauty industry from prescriptive to predictive, helping consumers navigate complexity with intelligent, evolving and emotionally aware customer service systems – without losing the human touch.

Renude co-founders Pippa Harman and Catherine Nisson then introduced Skin Chat AI – a chatbot tool powered by dermatologists. Built for integration into e-commerce platforms, it analyses skin via selfies to provide users with product advice and skincare routines and arms retailers with invaluable data on shopping behaviours and any pain points or areas for innovation.

Global – While online shopping offers ease, most consumers say it lacks excitement, according to an international survey by Criteo. Some 76% of shoppers say online retail is dull, with nearly a third (29%) calling it a ‘chore’. The survey polled 6,000 consumers and 600 brand leaders in six countries.

Although 61% of shoppers turn to online retail for convenience, 79% describe the experience as ‘lonely’ and 78% feel overwhelmed by too many choices. Only half say they find online shopping enjoyable or relaxing.

‘Once, shopping was about excitement – the thrill of the unexpected, the delight of discovery,’ says Marc Fischli, executive managing director at Criteo. ‘Online retail has become a functional necessity, optimised for speed but stripped of surprise and spontaneity.’

Personalisation could offer a solution. Some 43% of online shoppers are open to brands using their data to improve experiences provided it’s done transparently and with trust. Fischli notes that consumers crave the unexpected, but discovery is too often left to chance.

While 98% of brand leaders believe their discovery strategies are effective, 79% admit that data privacy concerns limit their ability to improve them. Interestingly, 55% believe influencers drive traffic, yet only 29% of consumers say influencer content makes them feel more positively about a brand.

In our Escapism Retail report, we explored how innovative physical retail spaces are becoming a compelling antidote to online shopping’s lack of excitement.