Today’s consumers are living in a rapidly digitising world, which is becoming seamlessly integrated into everyday life. This dynamic environment is giving rise to a number of factors, such as universal smartphone usage and dependency on the online environment, which in turn are influencing consumer lifestyles and purchasing decisions.

One such evolving behaviour that has spawned from this changing environment, is the expansion of traditional social exchanges. These are no longer confined to physical interaction and can be attributed to the combination of social media and enhanced mobile technologies, such as smartphones and tablets so consumers can socialise at any time of the day via mobile platforms.

Additionally, posting selfies online or sending images is increasingly commonplace in consumer routines today, even sometimes replacing text messages. Due to these spontaneous social interactions, the need to be ‘photo-ready’ is becoming essential for digitised individuals. This is evident in Canadean’s research, which shows that approximately three in five consumers in Asia-Pacific say they are conscious of their appearance in photos and images.

In turn, this creates unique opportunities for beauty brands. For example, one of the defining characteristics of image-based social media platforms, such as Instagram, is that consumers are able to edit and enhance their appearance electronically by the use of filters. Beauty brands can therefore capitalise on familiarity with such programmes and their association with image enhancement to create a unique positioning. One example of this would be Becca’s Backlighting Primer available in Hong Kong which acts as an instant filter to create a ‘soft-focused radiance’ and glowing appearance.

Jamie Mills is a Consumer Insight Analyst at Canadean, and will be speaking on Targeting Consumers in Today’s Digital Era at in-cosmetics Asia, which will explore these behaviours and subsequent opportunities in greater detail.