Survey reveals metaverse habits of beauty shoppers
Beauty retailers should investigate augmented and virtual reality, video games, and other “metaverse” technologies.
A new survey of over 200 users of the Beautyque experiential retail marketing platform (96% of respondents identify female) reveals a high degree of engagement with the metaverse - an environment where consumers will use augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) technology to digitally engage with each other and their surroundings, with crossovers into the physical world.
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Beauty shoppers like video games
When asked if they play any video games, 91.3% of respondents said that they do play video games. The top six gaming devices being used are:
- Phone (73.6%)
- Computer (55.3%)
- Playstation (40.4%)
- Xbox (34.1%)
- Nintendo Switch (26%)
- Oculus (11.1%)
When asked if a chance were given, they would use the Oculus VR headset device, 94.2% of respondents said that they would use the Oculus device. About nine in 10 (88.2%) respondents believe that the Oculus device is the right device to immerse themselves in a virtual storefront.
Six in 10 (60.6%) of respondents said that they do play games that involve metaverses, with two-thirds (66.8%) of those also responding that they put makeup on their gaming characters. When respondents were asked what other products they would use on their characters, hair care seemed to be a popular choice at 36.5%, followed by skincare at 30.3%.
More than eight in 10 (81.3%) respondents voting that they would see themselves shopping for products in a virtual space. Close to nine in 10 (88%) respondents also like to dress up their characters based on their personal style. The day that is dedicated the most to playing video games in a week is Saturday (82.2%).
A recent survey from experiential e-commerce platform Obsess confirms that online videogame platforms are key metaverse shopping environments: Sixty-two percent of that survey’s respondents have purchased a digital item—such as an accessory, skin or garment for their avatar—within an online videogame.
[Read more: E-commerce is not a game – but games can become e-commerce]
Metaverse storefronts, virtual try-on prove popular
When asked if their favorite beauty store had a virtual metaverse would they visit it, nine in 10 (89.7%) respondents voted that they would (89.7%). More than six in 10 (62.7%) respondents also replied that they prefer visiting a store in the metaverse rather than traditional online shopping.
The survey also asked respondents about virtual makeup try-on apps, finding 80.3% have used virtual makeup try-on apps. Virtual makeup try-on apps are mainly used by respondents for trying on lipstick (74.5%) and hair color (71.6%.)
Device usage trends
When asked how many hours they spend using their devices weekly, 33.2% of respondents said more than 10 hours, a leading 35.1% answered that they spend between five to 10 hours on their devices weekly, and 31.7% reported that they spend less than five hours using devices per week.