The beauty market in France is worth €22.8 billion (Statista), driven by a cosmetics industry generating €35.6 billion in revenue. But the real shift isn't in the market's size; it's in how customers navigate it. According to a 2026 Shopify France study on beauty e-commerce trends, 47% of online shoppers have already purchased a beauty or hygiene product online, while 66% continue to visit pharmacies or parapharmacies. Taken together, these two figures tell the same story: no one is "100% online" or "100% in-store" anymore. Everyone moves between the two, often within the same day.
Here are the 3 trends reshaping this journey and what they mean for beauty retailers.
Trend #1: Webrooming is becoming the default journey, not the exception
Research online, buy in-store. This behavior, long considered just one habit among many, is becoming the standard journey in the beauty sector. Customers compare reviews, watch tutorials, and try online skin diagnostics before heading to a salon or store to finalize their choice, get advice, or experience the product firsthand.
The problem isn't that customers are researching online; it's that most retailers have no way to turn that digital intent into a scheduled visit. As a result, a customer who spends twenty minutes comparing serums on a brand's website arrives at the store on a Saturday afternoon, encounters a queue or a busy sales associate, and leaves without the guidance they came for.
What makes the difference:
- A journey that allows booking a slot immediately after the online search, without friction;
- An associate who is aware of the customer's needs before they even arrive;
- A visit that becomes an expected appointment rather than an anonymous drop-in.
We detail the concrete levers to bridge this gap in our article Why your web leads never make it to the point of sale.
Trend #2: AI-driven personalization is raising the bar for human advice
L'Oréal has launched Beauty Genius, an assistant capable of recommending a skincare routine in real time based on a skin profile. This type of tool is becoming widespread, and it is changing one fundamental thing: customers are increasingly arriving in stores with a diagnosis already made, a need already defined, and specific expectations.
Gartner estimates that 80% of marketing interactions will be driven by AI by 2026. But the goal is not to replace beauty advisors with an algorithm; it is to ensure that the human interaction following that diagnosis lives up to the precision it created. A customer who arrives with an AI diagnosis only to find an unprepared or, worse, unavailable advisor experiences a regression rather than a premium experience.
What this means in practical terms for retail networks:
- Automatically assigning the right advisor based on the required expertise (skincare, makeup, fragrance, dermo-cosmetics);
- Providing the advisor with the context of the customer's needs before the appointment;
- Transforming the digital diagnosis into a qualified appointment, not just a simple visit.
This is exactly the topic we explore in depth in Skill management: how to ensure the right advisor for every appointment.
Trend #3: The point of sale is becoming a place for experiences, not just a pickup point
Physical stores are not closing; they are transforming. They are becoming places for discovery, advice, and service, as purely transactional tasks naturally shift to digital channels.
In the beauty industry, this shift is taking concrete forms: makeup workshops, in-store skin diagnostics, bespoke fragrance consultations, and skincare introductions. A customer coming to pick up a click-and-collect order shouldn't just grab a bag at the front desk. A 15-minute appointment with an advisor to refine their routine turns a neutral pickup into a consultative moment, leading to an increased basket size and a customer who leaves feeling cared for, not just served.
We previously showed, in our analysis of 5 ways appointment scheduling increases average basket size, that a customer who books an appointment before visiting spends on average 2 to 3 times more than a walk-in customer. In a sector where personalized advice is exactly what e-commerce cannot replicate, this is a lever that would be a shame to overlook.
To learn more about the synergy between digital and physical, read our article on phygital in retail details how successful brands treat digital as the start of a journey that ends in-store, rather than as a separate channel.
Summary
These three trends share a common thread: they all rely on a network's ability to orchestrate appointment scheduling at scale, with the same level of excellence in every salon, corner, and retail outlet. This is as much an infrastructure challenge as it is a customer experience one, and it is precisely the area where we support retail brands, from large specialized retailers to beauty networks.
Frequently Asked Questions
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