P&G Launches BeautySPHERE Digital Platform

P&G has stepped into the popular metaverse genre of commerce that Alexis Schrimpf, vice president of design, global skin and personal care, has described as an “experimental kind of experimentation,” allowing for digital interaction with the company’s products.

The company announced its new product, called BeautySPHERE, on Jan. 5 at the CES trade show.

According to a Thursday (Jan. 13) report from Cosmetics Design, Schrimpf said that the first part of BeautySPHERE consists of “telling the story” of responsible beauty.

For instance, users visiting the BeautySPHERE digital experience can visit a metaverse version of the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, where an experimental learning experience explains how the company uses botanicals in its products.

Schrimpf characterized the metaverse as “developing a rich, immersive world where you can have unique experiences.”

As P&G moves into integrating its beauty products with the metaverse, Schrimpf said the tech would allow it to “develop deeper and richer stories” for the products it makes.

She noted that virtual reality (VR) would give users greater personalization, which would in turn create a deeper experience for the user. She added that the customer typically wants a more personalized experience, so those companies accessing the new tech would have a leg up.

P&G said last April that net sales for the third quarter were up 5% year over year, hitting $18.1 billion.

Read more: P&G Sees Net Sales Increase In Q3, eCommerce Up 50 Percent

That came with a 9% net sales growth in the beauty segment, along with 8% in the fabric and home care segment.

Jon Moeller, serving as vice chairman and chief operating officer at the time, said there had been a “return to higher levels of consumption in categories that suffered as a result of the pandemic.” He said dry shaving was an example, with people not shaving as much during the lockdown period in 2020.

“Certainly, our away-from-home business that serves hotels and restaurants is starting to see a little bit more life,” Moeller said at the time. “And, you know, some of the beauty businesses, like deodorant, for example, the market had declined a little bit and that’s beginning to pick up.”