NEW REPORT: How AI And AR Give Makeup A Makeover

Eighty-eight percent of American adults have access to smartphones. Collectively, they now drive $130 billion in mobile commerce sales.

That increase in mobile commerce spending is underpinning a shift in consumers’ shopping preferences. Buyers are increasingly moving away from shopping on their desktops and are instead using their smartphones.

Meanwhile, retailers are scrambling to develop and translate the personalized experience consumers desire into digital features for these devices, using data as well as artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

The latest edition of the Omni Developer Report™ highlights the solution providers and retailers from around the space that are looking to introduce mobile commerce solutions to quickly capture consumer dollars, and loyalty.

Around the Omni Developer World

Mastercard, for one, wants to provide users in Russia with a new way to pay.

The financial services company recently debuted a new partnership with Russian phone operator and telecom provider MegaFon. The two collaborated on a payments solution designed to enable MegaFon subscribers to make purchases or pay bills via their smartphone using Apple Pay or Samsung Pay and a linked virtual Mastercard.

And speaking of Samsung Pay, the electronics giant recently rolled out a rewards and cash back program for users of its mobile payment service. It’s designed to give customers a rewarding digital experience and another incentive to use the company’s service.

To find the rest of the latest payments news, as well as the biggest headlines from around the space, check out the report’s News and Trends section.

NARS Cosmetics Puts Its Best Face Forward with AI, Data

Benjamin Lord, executive director of global eCommerce and omnichannel sales at NARS Cosmetics, has seen the shift toward digital commerce firsthand.

In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Lord said the beauty industry has seen an influx of digital customers and brands alike, pushing even legacy players to offer mobile and online features that recreate the beauty counter experience. With the beauty industry generating $445 billion in sales in 2017, Lord said NARS has looked to stand out in the increasingly crowded cosmetics market by providing customers with a simple and enjoyable omnichannel experience — one that will keep them coming back to shop with the brand repeatedly.

“We have to think globally and make sure our omnichannel frameworks and strategies are flexible and ready to adapt to those changes around the globe,” Lord said. “We do that by focusing on integration between eCommerce sites, social media and marketing efforts, and the stores and boutiques we own … Digital technology, things like augmented reality and artificial intelligence, have become very crucial pieces in transforming the beauty industry.”

To read the full story, download the report above.

About the Report

The Omni Developer Report™ a Vantiv, now Worldpay, collaboration, provides the payments ecosystem with a view of how software developers are using new technologies to create innovative business opportunities, and enable merchants to optimize the ways they engage with shoppers today. The developer community within the report is separated into three categories: shopping and payments, operations and marketing.