“What do Gen Z shoppers want?” is an ever-evolving question — one that YSL Beauty has homed in on in recent years.
“They want to be entertained, they want to connect and they want to express themselves,” says Caroline Oheix, the brand’s global retail services and beauty tech director. YSL Beauty’s answer to this involves looking beyond its digital footprint to create IRL retail experiences catered to a generation more eager than ever to get off their phones. “Our role at YSL Beauty is really to design immersive omnichannel experiences that can translate digital trends seen on TikTok or Instagram into physical beauty moments.”
To do so, YSL is leaning into personalized beauty informed by innovation and its suite of experts. “Technology and data play a very big role in how we design and bring experiences to life, but at the heart of the experiences will always be our beauty advisors as true connection and a real relationship with our consumers is very important for us,” Oheix says. Bridging tech and personal experiences is a central theme to the YSL Beauty retail strategy.
She cites an ICSC survey, which found that 97% of Gen Zs shop in-store for instant gratification — to see, test and sample products immediately, while 60% visit for the experiential and social aspects. Such importance in these physical spaces makes it essential that brands connect the dots between the online discovery they became reliant upon — particularly from 2020 onward when social distancing made in-person gatherings near impossible — and these IRL spheres. YSL Beauty has boutiques and counters in over 15,000 retail spaces globally, including Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora and Macy’s. Additionally, the brand often launches immersive pop-up experiences, like its Candy Shoppe activation during New York Fashion Week.
Connecting the dots between in-store and online
“What we see today is that there are no frontiers between offline and online; everything is blurred,” Oheix says. “[Gen Z might] search online for something — for a trend or a product — then go into the store to try it, and go online again to buy it.” To create a throughline between this online-offline loop, YSL Beauty focuses on what Oheix calls “tailor-made beauty led by experts, powered by tech”.
Tailor-made experiences rely on people: beauty advisors, fragrance experts, makeup experts who play a key role in shaping the consumer journey in the way that a content creator or expert’s video does so on social media. These advisors might greet a customer when they enter, help them choose a flattering Make Me Blush shade, differentiate between perfume offerings, or simply strike up a conversation. They are there to make customers feel welcome to enter the YSL Beauty world. “The human factor is absolutely key to make this connection and to bring energy, but also emotion,” she adds.
Tech, on the other hand, is brought in for added consumer value. “It’s tech with a purpose to amplify and magnify the consumer experience brought by our human experts,” she says. Personalization, Oheix emphasizes, is central to the brand’s strategy — a key learning from a YSL Beauty survey that found more than seven out of 10 customers were looking and expecting experiences to be hyper-personalized to their specific needs and concerns.
Take the brand’s Scent-Sation technology, for example. It melds AI and neuroscience into a multi-sensory experience aimed to help customers find the perfect fragrance. By measuring the electrical impulses triggered when customers smell different accords, the algorithm can recommend the best-suited scents. Personalization, however, can certainly be less tech-oriented, from shade matching for its All Hours foundation, to engraved Libre bottles featuring names or unique messages.
A new way to measure success
Executing unique, hyper-curated, undoubtedly memorable experiences defines success for YSL Beauty. “[We want] to switch from a point of sales to a point of experience with stores crafted for creation, connection and self-expression,” says Oheix.
She says that, beyond sales, the goal is the positive associations resulting from the activation. “It’s the emotion that is more important, because if you do not manage to create this relationship — this connection with consumers that will make them feel genuinely listened to, genuinely taken care of — that will never sparkle the little fire of emotion that will make them come back,” says Oheix. Beyond products that may or may not be bought, YSL Beauty wants its guests to feel more confident, more empowered and more inspired. This level of satisfaction is often measured by net promoter score (NPS) — were consumers happy and would they come back?
Amid ongoing pressures of the luxury slowdown, YSL Beauty isn’t trying to come off as “luxurious” at all. Elevated, yes, per Oheix, but more rooted in authenticity and inclusivity. “The DNA of the brand resonates with the younger generation,” she says, nodding to the label’s edgy and daring point of view. It’s no secret that beauty is an accessible luxury for younger generations, and YSL Beauty is keen on speaking to this customer.
According to Oheix, this generation appreciates the collectible nature of its offerings: one might grab a Loveshine lip oil stick in multiple shades, or its Make Me Blush to complete one’s makeup look and keep it on display. Younger generations are eyeing luxury fragrances, too. Libre, Myslf and Black Opium are standouts — helped, in part, by the brand’s alignment with Gen Z-beloved talents like Dua Lipa (who is the brand’s global face of makeup and Libre eau de parfum), Austin Butler and Drew Starkey.
“For YSL Beauty, it is not enough to only have beautiful products, inspiring advertising and great formulas, it is important for us to give back to our community as well,” she continues. “This generation deeply connects with brands that align with their values.” Through its Abuse is Not Love cause, YSL Beauty has made a social commitment to train two million people on the warning signs of abuse by 2030, in partnership with a network of more than 25 global NGOs. The initiative, which launched in 2020, is designed to help fight intimate partner violence, a global issue that one out of three women will experience in their lifetime. The brand also maintains sustainability commitments. “One of the key priorities of our sustainability program, Reduce Our Impact, is our refill offering,” Oheix explains. “This isn’t just a fleeting trend; it’s a deep-seated demand for products that align with their values and contribute to a healthier planet.”
Through its focus on personalization, connection and emotion, YSL Beauty wants to stand out in a competitive luxury marketplace that’s clamoring for digital share of voice by utilizing these tech and people-driven retail spaces to home in on its messaging. “This intersection between the human touch, expertise and technology brings an incredible in-store experience to life that gives consumers the opportunity to tangibly experience what YSL Beauty stands for.”
