One of Bérubé’s biggest priorities is driving sales across all platforms – or as he likes to call it O+O (online plus offline). At the moment, roughly 20% of L’Oréal’s sales are delivered through ecommerce channels, but he wants digital to account for a much higher percentage. In order to achieve this, he said the brand must stop talking about ecommerce as a separate channel.

We need to stop talking about digital – it’s all part of marketing.
Stéphane Bérubé, L’Oréal
“I don’t believe we have an online and offline consumer. Marketing needs to move from having [separate] digital priorities. We need to stop talking about what is the digital strategy. I am making a big point of this [to change] in the culture at L’Oréal,” he said.

“I always smile when agencies claim they are doing digital. Honestly, maybe that was good in 2010, but in 2017 they should claim they just do marketing. We need to stop talking about digital – it’s all part of marketing.”

Brands also have a job to do to convince consumers of the benefits of sharing their data, as it will lead to more personalised ads, he said, while also increasing sales for L’Oréal.

He believes the fact brands are not using data correctly or know which data is most important is a wider problem, however. Bérubé said he still receives ads for nappies despite his youngest child being eight-years-old; something he describes as a “waste”.

“We are in the era where consumers don’t know the benefits of data and have a negative view of it. Our priority is to bring personalisation to consumers and be super relevant. From an industry standpoint, we have not done a very good job [of explaining] why data can bring relevancy and more meaningful content,” he commented.

Investing in new tech

The last part of his strategy is based around L’Oréal offering a more relevant experience on every platform. He believes consumers are often overwhelmed by the number of ways brands try to reach out to them, so he wants to ensure the company takes a careful approach to new technology and doesn’t get ahead of itself.

“As much as we want to be at the forefront, we won’t jump into something very quickly just to be the first to do it. We want to do it right and with a sense of purpose,” Bérubé said.

Nevertheless, there is one new piece of tech that has seemingly caught his eye – voice technology. Because even though consumers might not have an Amazon Alexa device at home, many use services such as Siri on their smartphones.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com