L’Oréal leverages commerce with Amazon Ads for beauty sales

If a stranger tried to sell you a product, would you trust them enough to buy it? What if that stranger had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media? In a culture dominated by social media, where your profile is essentially your identity, carefully curated posts and the engagement they spur provide a sense of connection. For this reason, businesses have flocked to social platforms and influencers to drive business in what has been dubbed “social commerce,” a tactic Statista predicts will grow in Europe by 68% to $45 billion by 2027.^¹

Social commerce is defined by Sprout Social as “the buying and selling of goods or services directly within a social media platform.”^² To many brands, including global beauty giant L’Oréal, it means tapping into the power of influencers to create a more seamless path to purchase.

Social media and influencers have had a profound impact on beauty shopping, especially among young adults. In fact, 31% of social media users say that they prefer to discover new products through an influencer they follow over any other format or channel, according to a recent survey by HubSpot.^³ In Germany specifically, 50% of Gen Zers get inspiration for their beauty routines from social media, and 46% of Germans who follow beauty influencers have bought a product via their recommendation or advertisement.^⁴ By leveraging the trust these influencers have built with their online communities, L’Oréal sought to gain credibility with shoppers actively seeking advice, education, and recommendations for their specific beauty needs.

L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetics company; from their first hair dye produced in 1909 to their beauty tech products and services offered today, beauty is in their DNA, as is innovation. And for that, they came to Amazon Ads to bring their first social commerce campaign, and Germany’s first live shopping experience, to life.

Amazon’s unique and expansive portfolio of ad products allowed L’Oréal to reach customers across the full funnel, transporting them from a state of “consuming” to a state of “doing.” Thus, Beauty Secrets was born—a social-to-commerce video experience that livestreamed within a custom Brand Store on Amazon.de during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, with further amplification via condensed video in the weeks following the live shopping event.

The company worked on the project with Amazon’s Brand Innovation Lab, a team dedicated to building creative ad campaigns and products that let brands stand out on Amazon. Knowing that customers and brands are always raising expectations of what advertising can be, they seek out opportunities to expand the canvas available to brands on Amazon, incubating new ideas, and providing the creative spark needed to fuel long-term growth. Their cutting-edge expertise was enlisted to level up L’Oréal’s Beauty Secrets activation.

L’Oréal launched the ambitious campaign on October 10, 2023—marking the first day of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. The full-funnel activation was designed to help maximize the reach of the upcoming livestream event, with ads running across Amazon Fire TV, Freevee, and Twitch, alongside static and video creatives running on Amazon.de. The pre-event flight highlighted the expert advice that would be delivered at the event, along with L’Oréal’s hero products, Telescope Lift mascara and Revitalift Pure Vitamin C serum—garnering 27.5 million impressions. Later that afternoon, the live shopping experience aired within the custom Brand Store, attracting 4.6K viewers.

“With compelling creative, we were able to reach all the relevant audiences, and even inspired gamers [from Twitch] to tune in,” said Laura Branik, general manager of L’Oréal Germany. “Even though the original livestream was 45 minutes, the fun-to-watch tone of voice made the time fly by.”

Following the livestream, condensed video content was created for use within L’Oréal’s custom Brand Store, which allowed shoppers to access the content whenever they wanted. This approach helped drive longevity from the live event, paired with amplification across screens and devices via streaming TV ads and Amazon Freevee.

The approach was a clear success, with 78% of the campaign’s sales happening during Prime Big Deal Days’ 48-hour window.

The Brand Store hub, along with the streaming TV and online video creatives, continued to run through the end of November. By the end of the campaign, all media drivers and the custom Brand Store drove a combined €222,036 in sales and delivered 115.1 million total impressions across all placements.

L’Oréal is now exploring ways to build on the success of the campaign, including through future livestream events. And as the first live shopping activation to ever occur in Germany, this campaign has also opened doors for other brands.

“[This was] not a classic Brand Store, but a social commerce hub that made both awareness tactics and lower-funnel tactics relevant and interesting,” said Branik. “[C]ombining this activation with a deal event … drove brand loyalty and affinity in the minds of our consumers by awarding them with discounts.”