L’Oréal Malaysia to double down on social commerce in 2022 to help 250 salons affected by pandemic

• Aims to bring brick-and-mortar salons into the digital world
• Social commerce leads in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia to follow in 3-5 years

The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the majority of businesses in Malaysia. Salons too were not spared and were badly affected as the nature of the industry requires human contact. 

Since MCO 1.0, over 16,728 registered hair salons, employing over 74,500 workers, were forced to close and the industry, which typically contributes US$3.2 billion (RM13.5 billion) a year to the nation’s GDP, was dealt a heavy blow and many salon entrepreneurs were driven into bankruptcy.

Tapping on Southeast Asia’s e-commerce potential, which recorded a total market of US$109 billion in 2020, L’Oréal and AVANA introduced social commerce to L’Oréal Malaysia’s salon partners. The aim was to help bring these brick-and-mortar businesses into the digital world, starting with eight participating salons which then quickly increased to about 100 hundred salons by December this year, the social commerce enabler said in a statement.

[RM1 = US$0.236]

This initiative allowed salon owners to quickly generate buzz for their new product launches, resulting in higher conversion rates from interest to sale. Additionally, it has also helped to maintain the personal touch between salon owners and customers, a key facet of the business that drives trust and intimacy, which translates into high-quality engagement and sales.

Following this success, the market shift is clear and L'Oréal will be doubling down on social commerce, with the aim of rolling out to 250 salons nationwide in 2022. The company claims that this initiative has processed over RM1 million monthly in sales and is set to grow further.

Currently, social commerce revenue in Thailand and Vietnam have already overtaken traditional e-commerce sales, and Malaysia and Indonesia are expected to follow suit in the next three to five years.

Edward Ling, (pic, right) chief digital officer of L’Oréal Malaysia said the company is constantly exploring new ways to market its products and helping its L'Oréal Professional salons do business both in-store and online. 

“As most of our salon partners are new to digitalisation, we want to reduce the technical complexities and enable digitalisation of stores on their behalf, thus allowing them to focus on the social selling aspects of their business. 

“We saw AVANA as the ideal partner to do this and together, we have set the stage for post-pandemic business growth via online sales,” Ling added.

Salon owners harnessing the power of social commerce can now sell through multiple social media channels simultaneously. Customers from participating salons can browse through the entire range of products and directly place their orders through the AVANA’s WhatsApp Commerce solution.

Another added revenue stream is AVANA’s Facebook Live Shopping channel, which allows salon owners to livestream and collect real-time orders automatically.

Luqman Adris, (pic, left) founder and chief executive officer of AVANA said the company has helped salons on its social commerce platform by enabling salon owners and their team members to sell hair styling and treatment products directly to customers via multiple social media channels as an additional income stream while keeping customers engaged long-term.”

By September, less than four months since the initiative was launched nationwide, the top five performing L'Oréal Professional salons managed to collectively rake in a quarter of a million ringgit in revenue. Code 88 Hair Studio, a Muar-based salon generated tens of thousands of ringgit worth of sales in under two hours by utilising AVANA’s Facebook Live Shopping solution. 

Owner Jansen Hau said his company has benefited from AVANA’s platform which has helped generate more online sales via promotions held and enabled customers to conveniently purchase products. 

Kuantan-based De Hair Room on the other hand, has made more than RM50,000 in sales via AVANA-driven social commerce events with owner, Angel Yong saying “this is the company’s first stint with social commerce.”