The beauty and cosmetics industry is at the core of becoming increasingly competitive through the use of newer technologies.
Owing to the market created by the baby boomers when it comes to personalized beauty products, it is generally thought that the industry can use emergent technology to develop anti-aging solutions for use by beauty seekers in this group of the population.
This paper describes how such an innovation relates to current business trends as well as the product life-cycle.
One of the underlying trends in the beauty and cosmetics industry is that of the boomer population favoring ‘cosmeceuticals’ (personal-care products with supposed skin-enhancing ingredients) for purposes of looking younger.
Additionally, the urban and affluent customer base is willing to pay a premium not only to maintain young and presentable looks but also to use the latest innovations in enhancing their personal and professional life.
Another current business trend of great importance is that now, more than ever before, people are using green and sustainable products manufactured using non-toxic and earth-friendly processes.
With the above current business trends in mind, the new anti-aging innovation targets to use active and natural ingredients (e.g., plant extracts from Lily Herbceuticals and Tibetan Snow Lotus) to come up with the final products depending on customer preferences and use.
The idea to use such natural ingredients as opposed to chemicals is firmly embedded in the trends of customers using modern-day ‘cosmeceuticals’ with supposed skin-enhancing ingredients, people always wanting to use latest beauty innovations to look young and presentable in their personal and professional engagements, and people always wanting to use products developed using green and sustainable processes.
Technology can be used in new ways to ensure that these innovative ideas are implemented in the beauty and cosmetics industry, hence enhancing the competitive advantage of the business.
For example, new computer-based technology can be used to extract customers’ own stem cells and conduct a comprehensive analysis, with the view to understanding the ingredients that should be used to make anti-aging products for diverse members of the population.
This type of technology assists in the alignment of the business with a current business trend, which seems to insinuate that consumers want to see results, not promises. In this light, it can be argued that the anti-aging products will gain a lot of favor among the baby boomers, who have money to spend but would still want to attain desirable appearances.
Additionally, the business can benefit from upcoming technology companies that employ algorithms to match customers with individualized beauty samples. Such a technological innovation, in my view, will see the market for beauty and cosmetics products quadruple as customers will be assured that the anti-aging products on offer will not have adverse effects on them.
Such products may be sold at a premium price, but this resonates well with another current business trend, which postulates that no matter the age of the customer, spending in the 21st century is leaning toward higher-performance products.
Lastly, in the product life cycle, it is suggested that most anti-aging products are past the introduction stage into their growth stage.
Consequently, launching into this market using the innovative ideas and business trends discussed in this paper is likely to occasion a strong growth in sales and profits, hence ensuring the business will sustain a competitive advantage and also invest more funds in the promotional activity to optimize the potential of this growth phase.