CosmeticOBS: The barometer shows that the beauty sector already ticks many boxes when it comes to omnichannel retailing, with seamless customer journeys and flawless logistics. However, customer support remains the weak link. What is still preventing beauty brands from offering the same level of advice and personal service online as they do in-store?

Guewen Loussouarn: It’s not a technological problem. It’s a question of organization and managing people’s time. Today, if you put yourself in the shoes of a store manager, you would logically prefer your teams to be out on the floor, generating sales in the store, rather than seeing them on duty online. It’s still difficult to organize.
Some retailers are starting to set up teams dedicated to providing video or remote support, with appointment scheduling. But even then, the reality is still complicated: sales assistants are often put in the break room with their phones to conduct their online sessions.
This is not ideal, either for them or for the customer. We need to come up with real, equipped spaces within the store itself so that these new practices can be integrated without disrupting the rest of the business.
The other major challenge is access …