L2 Report Reveals How Indie Brands Are Steering the Future of Digital Marketing Within the Hair Care and Color Category

NEW YORK, July 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital benchmarking firm L2 Inc releases its 5th annual Digital IQ Index Report: Hair Care & Color 2017.

The L2 report benchmarks the digital performance of 91 Hair Care and Color brands across both Consumer and Professional product segments. The report identifies key digital strategies and best practices for brands to succeed amidst evolving shopping habits and search behaviors of the hair care consumer. The L2 Digital IQ Index methodology examines a brand's strengths and weaknesses across the four digital dimensions of Site and E-Commerce, Digital Marketing, Social, and Mobile. Index brands are classified as either Genius, Gifted, Average, Challenged, or Feeble.

"Established Hair Care and Color players such as L'Oréal and Garnier continue to prioritize their digital investments, earning the top spots in this year's Index," explained Giulia Prati, Associate Director of Beauty Research at L2. "However, brash indie players are challenging heritage brands, who in lieu of large budgets, are rapidly gaining market share and consumer loyalty by taking a mobile-first approach to digital, exploring new growth channels, focusing on savvy social media strategies, and forging unique partnerships."

Key Findings from L2 Report:

Smarter Search: Just 40 percent of Google Hair Care searches specify a brand, down from 44 percent the year before. Instead, consumers are actively researching products specific to their hair type, gender, ethnicity and by product ingredients, as searches for Tea Tree, Coconut Milk, and Keratin climbed to new heights in June 2017 representing 100, 67, and 54 percent of Indexed Google search volume.

Reimagined Distribution: Ulta leads the way for online shopping when it comes to Salon brands (58 percent), while Target dominates the digital distribution for Consumer brands (80 percent). However, the line between consumer and professional brands continues to blur as 28 percent of Salon brands and 58 percent of consumer brands now distribute on Amazon.

Mobile First: Mobile site optimization has become table stakes for hair care and color brands, with 96 percent of tracked brands having mobile-optimized sites, up from 87 percent last year. Indie brands have been quick to connect with consumers through mobile-first content and features: 29 percent of tracked indie brands offering DTC e-commerce integrate live chat into their mobile experiences, versus only 15 percent of other Index brands.

The report features case studies on brands including but not limited to: Aveda, L'Oréal, Nexxus Olaplex, Ouai, Redken, and Suave.

To access a complete media-only copy of L2's Intelligence Report: Loyalty 2017, contact [email protected]

About L2
L2 benchmarks the digital performance of over 2,200 brands across 12 industries globally. The L2 Digital IQ Index is the global standard for measuring digital competence. We analyze 1,250 data points to provide brands with actionable, data driven insights on their digital performance.

SOURCE L2

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