Building a case for AI-led, experiential beauty retailing

“We are not just changing the beauty industry, but reinventing it,” said Manoj Shinde, Founder- Orbo.ai, and with that set the context for his presentation on the theme, 'AI as a tool in enhancing store efficiency’ at the recently concluded DDX Asia Business Conference 2025.

Manoj took the audience through the critical need in offline retail space for meaningful engagement with customers and elevating their experience. As he pointed out, “While digital displays help draw attention in a crowded retail space, the consumers in-store, especially Gen Z, need to feel engaged. Retail is a competitive space where selling the old way is never enough.”

He thus reiterated the importance of having interactive digital points in the physical store space, something particularly relevant in beauty retailing where personalisation is the core of customer experience and engagement. There is also a big need for awareness creation in this segment. As Manoj said, “ 99% of the users are not aware or educated about the skincare regime.”

Manoj then introduced Orbo’s AI powered Smart Mirror, which he described as a “gateway for real-time style, product, and look experimentation”. Orbo’s Smart Mirror essentially takes away many of the challenges inherent in traditional in-store beauty shopping. “The technology not only saves the time customers spend finding the right product, but also allows them to browse many more items when in the store with just a click,” explained Manoj.

Mapping the entire consumer journey in the store, Manoj set about highlighting the benefits of Smart Mirrors, against the larger context of specific needs in the retail space: improved shopper journeys, accelerated conversions, personalised customer experiences, etc. By combining information, interactivity and engagement, Smart Mirror caters to all the in-store needs. The Smart Mirror helps customers analyse their own skin type and accordingly pick the right recommended skin care product for testing and buying. The benefits of Smart Mirror for both consumers and brands are thus pretty obvious. For brands they include: Improved shopper journey, improved product trials, time saving and personalised experience. For the brand, they include: Data driven insights, reduction in customer acquisition cost, increase in footfall and retention, extensive customer insights. Manoj effectively summed these up with the help of two case studies - of Tata CLiQ and Shoppers Stop.

In effect, Manoj effectively drove home the need for AI backed experiential in-store technologies for elevated customer experience - increasingly becoming inevitable in the beauty retailing space.