Spanish companies are optimistic about their level of digitalisation. This is according to ‘Observatorio de Competitividad Empresarial’, the latest report prepared by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.
Spanish companies, including those operating in the cosmetics, perfumery and beauty sector, recognise that they have improved their level of digitalisation after the impact of the pandemic. One of the reasons for this is because companies' investment in digitisation has increased, and has mainly been allocated to the improvement and provision of technological equipment. This investment has also gone towards improvements in the implementation of teleworking, business applications and software, and other aspects such as connectivity and other associated services.
Spanish companies understand that this improvement in digitalisation has a direct influence on brand image and brand reputation, while also helping to improve their relationship with customers and other companies in terms of innovation and company productivity.
For companies, investment in online presence is already considered an obligation and a priority, especially, of course, for those that use it as a sales channel for their products and services.
Lack of time within companies is the biggest obstacle to improving their own digitisation
The main barriers that Spanish companies face when it comes to improving their level of digitisation are bureaucracy and the procedures they have to carry out with state administrations or autonomous communities, and they also report difficulties in terms of the lack of public incentives. Other companies that have participated in this report attribute difficulties to the fact that they are faced with a customer who is not very digitally literate, an increase in investment costs, and digital security and privacy is something that disturbs the Spanish business ecosystem. However, the vast majority of the companies surveyed agree that other important reasons are the lack of time to dedicate to digitisation, which is the biggest internal obstacle, and the lack of financial resources is also a major constraint.
How is digitalisation integrated within the cosmetics sector?
The cosmetics sector is undoubtedly one of the sectors most committed to digitalisation. And there are examples almost day after day. From the industry, improvement and investment in innovation and digitisation becomes essential, especially because it allows the optimisation of processes, generation of savings and adaptation to the demand of consumers and customers.
In our sector, digitisation allows us to offer an improved customer experience, a broadening of the potential market, as well as differentiation from the competition by creating unique products and services that are able to respond to the demands of different customers.
However, like all other sectors, they face some of the challenges specified in the report prepared by the Chamber of Commerce, such as data security and privacy, adapting to the ever faster pace of change, and responding to the increasingly sensitive price demands.