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Analysis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Amazon today announced that it will be taking on yet another industry: hair care. The retail giant is opening its first-ever hair salon, where it will test augmented reality (AR) and \u201cpoint and learn\u201d technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the new London-based salon, customers can use AR technology to virtually \u201ctry on\u201d different hair colors. The \u201cpoint and learn\u201d technology allows customers to \u201cpoint to products on a display shelf in order to learn more through videos and other content that then appears on a display screen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers can then use their phones to scan the QR code on the screen, which will take them to the product on Amazon\u2019s UK website for checkout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, the salon will also provide real-life hair care and styling services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have designed this salon for customers to come and experience some of the best technology, hair care products and stylists in the industry,\u201d said John Boumphrey<\/a>, UK Country Manager, Amazon. \u201cWe want this unique venue to bring us one step closer to customers, and it will be a place where we can collaborate with the industry and test new technologies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially open to Amazon employees only, the salon is designed to be an \u201cexperiential venue\u201d where the company can showcase new brands and technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The introduction of Amazon Salon follows the UK launch of Amazon Professional Beauty Store, an online shop that gives stylists and salon owners easy access to Amazon\u2019s wide selection of professional hair and beauty products at wholesale prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this is Amazon\u2019s first physical hair salon, it is not the retail giant\u2019s first foray into tech-first beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last spring, Amazon Canada partnered with L\u2019Oreal and Modiface<\/a> to allow customers to virtually try-on color cosmetics while shopping on Amazon. Virtual testing can be done with AR, using a customer selfie, live video, or on a model with a similar skin tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also last year, Amazon expanded its AR offerings with a Room Decorator<\/a> feature. The new tool uses augmented reality to let shoppers see how furniture and other home decor items would look in their own homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The popular search platform Pinterest<\/a> is also leaning into AR and last year launched its own AR Try On tool, allowing users to try on eyeshadows from major beauty brands Lancome, YSL, Urban Decay, and NYX Cosmetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And even Whole<\/a> Foods<\/a> is jumping on the AR beauty bandwagon, recently launching its own virtual cosmetics try-on tool. At the Mineral Fusion display at Whole Foods, customers can use their phones to scan a QR code to virtually test Mineral Fusion beauty products. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Need to Know Amazon is launching its first-ever physical hair salon, Amazon Salon. The London-based salon will offer hair care services as well as testing AR and point-and-learn technology. Augmented reality is a growing trend in the beauty industry, allowing shoppers to virtually try-on and test beauty products before purchasing. Amazon has worked with AR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76314,"featured_media":113406,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3397],"tags":[65,497],"magazine-region":[3681],"magazine-series":[],"magazine-topic":[3679,3677],"class_list":["post-123906","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-News","category-retail","tag-amazon","tag-ar","magazine-region-london","magazine-topic-product","magazine-topic-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/123906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76314"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/123906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124957,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/123906\/revisions\/124957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/113406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123906"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=123906"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=123906"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=123906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/d3ghupt9z9s6o0.cloudfront.net\/app\/uploads\/2021\/04\/13094839\/download.jpeg\")