L'Oréal reaches 100 million digital try-on sessions in 2023, up 150% from 2022
L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus confirmed the beauty group hosted more than 100 million digital try-on sessions across its brands in 2023 — a 150% jump from the 40 million sessions recorded in 2022 — powered by its ModiFace augmented reality platform.
Background
L'Oréal acquired ModiFace in 2018 specifically to accelerate AR and AI capabilities across its brand portfolio. The investment was partially defensive — protecting against the disruption of physical in-store sampling as digital shopping grew — and partially offensive, creating a try-on infrastructure that no pure-play e-commerce rival could easily replicate.
What Was Implemented
- ModiFace AR platform integrated across L'Oréal brand websites, apps, and third-party retail partners (including Amazon)
- Virtual try-on spanning cosmetics (lipstick, eyeshadow, foundation), hair color, and skincare categories
- Available through L'Oréal's direct channels and via external retail partners
- Continuous expansion to new categories following consumer adoption signals
Results
L'Oréal recorded more than 100 million digital try-on sessions in 2023 , up 150% from approximately 40 million in 2022 . CEO Nicolas Hieronimus confirmed these figures in the company's 2023 Annual Report. Consumer adoption continued growing beyond pandemic constraints, indicating genuine behavioral shift rather than pandemic-only usage. The platform operates at global scale across 37+ brands.
Lessons
- Acquiring specialized AR technology (ModiFace) rather than building it in-house compressed time-to-deployment and delivered best-in-class capability
- Multi-channel availability — own brands plus third-party retail — multiplies the reach of a single platform investment
- Category expansion (from cosmetics to hair color to skincare) sustains growth after initial adoption plateaus in the first category
- Consumer behavior change post-pandemic validates that AR try-on creates genuine utility, not just novelty engagement