While L’Oréal has been around since 1909, these days the company is focusing on innovation to grow the beauty business. The cosmetics company has long been known for its iconic brands like Lancôme, Garnier, and Maybelline. But in today’s competitive global landscape, the CEO Nicolas Hieronimus indicates that Disruptive / H3 / Radical innovation is the emphasis going forward – with new products to be 10-15% of total sales each year.
“ We have always considered our business model was to bring to market products that are state of the art, charge a bit more, and globalize ” Hieronimus says. But in the AI era, the “ state of the art ” has taken more of a front seat than ever at the company – which now invests over €1.3 billion per year in research, and even more in technology. It’s that mindset that propelled L’Oréal to claim the top spot in the recent Fortune magazine Europe’s Most Innovative Companies .
The real driver of L’Oréal’s innovation, Hieronimus says is technology. “ Technology augments the upstream organization for research and downstream for the consumer. Upstream, AI now enables the company to scan hundreds of new molecules per year, whereas in the past it took months to do one“. Further, he indicated “ It’s a fantastic opportunity. Our labs are powered by AI. It is an advantage. We have 16 terabytes of proprietary data on beauty. We use AI in research to scan new molecules, using digital twins.”
The commercial result, Hieronimus said, is that “ AI enables us to reformulate faster and come up with new products quicker ”. As an example, he highlighted the new Laroche Posay Mela B3 anti-dark spot serum containing one such new molecule – Melasyl.
“ And downstream, the use of Agentic Generative AI is also starting to yield results. For example, after experimenting with virtual try-outs and other tech-enabled online offerings, we launched L’Oréal Paris Beauty Genius – an AI Agent that educates and advises consumers on their options and purchases. With more than 100,000 people using the Beauty Genius, consumers and the company are benefitting. If you recommend the right product and make it easy to know, people remain loyal – and tend to purchase up to 8 times the amount of L’Oréal products than non-engaged consumers !“
June 23, 2025 CAIL Innovation commentary info@cail.com www.cail.com 905-940-9000