AI Beauty Breakfast NYC: Why AI Is Becoming Beauty’s New Growth Infrastructure

On November 19th, Revieve hosted an intimate AI Beauty Breakfast in New York City alongside NielsenIQ and RoC Skincare, bringing together senior leaders across beauty, retail,Topics and technology. The discussion moved beyond AI hype to focus on what truly matters now: measurable impact, responsible adoption, and the future of beauty discovery in an AI-first world.

What emerged was a clear message: AI is no longer an experiment in beauty — it is becoming the category’s foundational infrastructure.

Below is a recap of the most important insights shaping how beauty brands will grow, connect, and compete in 2026 and beyond.

The Market Reality: AI Is Reshaping Beauty at Scale

NielsenIQ opened the morning with a data-driven overview of a beauty industry undergoing rapid digital realignment.

Key forces redefining the category

• Digital is now the core channel
  Online beauty sales have grown from 33% in 2020 to 46% today, cementing e-commerce as beauty’s primary commercial engine.
• AI in beauty is scaling fast
  Valued at $3.27B in 2023, the AI beauty market is projected to reach $8.1B by 2028, fueled by smarter diagnostics, AI agents, and predictive personalization.
• Discovery has gone social — and now AI-native
  Influencer marketing is expected to reach $33B by 2025, while TikTok Shop is already the 8th-largest beauty retailer in the U.S., generating $1B in beauty sales.
• AI assistants are replacing search
  Consumers now conduct over 1 billion beauty-related searches per week via ChatGPT, signaling a profound shift in how products are discovered.

But trust still matters

Despite rapid adoption, consumers remain cautious:

• 75% fear AI will eliminate jobs
• 69% worry about misinformation

Yet at the same time:

• 68% say AI improves essential aspects of life
• 68% value the personalized experiences AI enables in online shopping

The takeaway: Consumers want AI to deliver better outcomes — but they expect brands to use it responsibly, transparently, and accurately.

Generational and Geographic Divides Are Shaping AI Adoption

AI acceptance is not uniform — and this gap is already influencing where brands should prioritize innovation.

• 40% of global shoppers now use AI to automate everyday purchases
• 49% of Gen Z and 37% of Millennials use generative AI weekly for search or shopping
• 34% are comfortable purchasing products experienced only through AR or VR

Regionally, adoption varies significantly:

• MEA (48%) and APAC (41%) lead in AI usage
• Europe (21%) and North America (22%) remain more cautious

For beauty brands, this means AI-enabled experiences must be strategically deployed, not universally assumed.

Online Beauty Is Outpacing In-Store Growth — by a Wide Margin

NielsenIQ’s latest omnichannel data reinforced a defining trend:

• In-store beauty:
  $65.6B in sales, +1.8% YoY growth
• Online beauty:
  $58.2B in sales, +20.1% YoY growth
  +19.8% YTD, compared to +2.5% YTD in physical retail

The total U.S. Beauty & Personal Care market now stands at $122.8B, growing nearly 10% year over year, with 47% of revenue coming from online channels.

Digital-first beauty is no longer emerging — it’s established. AI is now its next growth multiplier.

RoC Skincare: What AI Success Looks Like in Practice

The centerpiece of the event was a candid discussion between Hilary Hutcheson, CMO of RoC Skincare, and Irina Mazur, CMO & Chief Commercial Officer at Revieve, showcasing RoC’s year-long experience with Revieve’s AI Skin Insight diagnostic.

Results from AI Skin Insight

• +81% conversion uplift
• +129% AOV uplift
• 70% completion rate
• 80% CRM opt-in rate, driving long-term engagement

Consumers consistently reward AI experiences that deliver instant, visual, and personal value — from skin age analysis to precision diagnostics and customized routines.

The hidden ROI: operational AI

Beyond the front-end experience, RoC highlighted the power of AI behind the scenes:

• 3.06X ROI from predictive CRM tools
• +9% email list growth
• +88% SMS subscriber growth since April

As Hilary Hutcheson shared:

“Start with AI that improves your existing processes — segmentation, timing, testing — before investing in complex front-end AI.”

AI-First Consumer Behavior: Discovery Has Left the Shelf

One of the most discussed insights from Revieve’s presentation was the reality that beauty discovery no longer begins with a shelf, a brand site, or even Google.

• 49% of Gen Z use tools like ChatGPT weekly for product discovery
• 37% of Millennials do the same
• 75% of beauty discovery now happens outside brand-controlled environments

AI assistants and social platforms have become the new digital shelf.

Introducing AI Beauty Discovery Connect

During the breakfast, Revieve unveiled AI Beauty Discovery Connect — the industry’s first solution enabling beauty brands to distribute trusted, commerce-ready product intelligence directly into GenAI ecosystems, including ChatGPT, Google SGE, and Gemini.

Why it matters:

• Over 25% of U.S. consumers already use GenAI for shopping decisions
• Without brand participation, AI answers risk being inaccurate, incomplete, or off-brand

Discovery Connect ensures:

• Brand-safe, verified content
• AI-ready product intelligence
• Commerce connectivity
• Consistent, personalized recommendations across AI surfaces

This marks the next frontier in beauty: AI-driven visibility and searchability.

The Core Takeaway: AI Wins When It Builds Relationships

Across every discussion, one theme remained consistent:

AI succeeds when it reduces friction, builds trust, and deepens consumer relationships — not when it simply chases short-term conversions.

Brands that invest in:

• transparency
• meaningful value exchange
• responsible data practices
• personalization with purpose

will outperform those treating AI as a quick growth hack.

As Irina Mazur, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at Revieve, summarized:

“The AI Beauty Breakfast brought together a rare blend of strategic minds across retail, brand, and tech. From NielsenIQ’s market outlook to RoC’s real-world KPIs, the dialogue made it clear: AI in beauty is no longer an experiment — it’s an engine of measurable growth. The insights shared today will shape how the industry defines success in 2026 and beyond.”

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