The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (ELC) has partnered with Microsoft to develop a groundbreaking AI ecosystem that transforms how the beauty giant forecasts trends and markets products, leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Azure OpenAI Service.
In a significant digital transformation initiative announced in March 2025, Estée Lauder is harnessing its 80-year legacy of consumer data through an innovative AI system called ConsumerIQ. This technology enables the company to rapidly analyze market trends and consumer preferences across its portfolio of nearly 25 brands in approximately 150 countries.
The impact of this AI integration is substantial, with McKinsey & Company projecting generative AI to generate $9-10 billion in value for the global beauty industry by 2025. This technological advancement positions Estée Lauder at the forefront of beauty innovation and market responsiveness.
“Generative AI represents a significant opportunity for the beauty industry – creating more engaging customer experiences, getting products into the hands of consumers faster, developing new products more efficiently and sustainably,” explains Shelley Bransten, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Global Industry Solutions.
The company’s new AI ecosystem consists of two primary components: ConsumerIQ and Trend Studio. ConsumerIQ enables employees to access vast amounts of consumer data through natural language queries, dramatically reducing research time from days to seconds. Meanwhile, Trend Studio focuses on detecting market trends and generating targeted marketing content, complete with Virtual Try-On Technology.
“This is now as simple as asking a question and getting an answer,” says Jayesh Mehta, a brand technology leader at Estée Lauder and AI Task Force member. The system can instantly analyze complex data sets, including surveys, clinical trials, and product usage information, providing meaningful insights for marketing and product development teams.
The technology’s practical applications are already evident. Marketing teams can now quickly respond to emerging trends, such as viral TikTok beauty products, by accessing relevant consumer data and developing targeted marketing strategies within hours rather than days or weeks.
“Beauty startups may be able to leap on the latest TikTok trend, but they don’t have 80 years of market knowledge like Estée does,” notes Kalindi Mehta, global vice president for consumer foresight, strategy and predictive analytics at Estée Lauder.
Jennifer Lee, director of strategic initiatives and predictive analytics at Estée Lauder, emphasizes the strategic importance of this initiative: “It’s all part of our innovation mindset of needing to be faster to leverage these technologies to enable our business in a new and different way.”
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