Bits & Bytes | L'Oréal Invests in Start-Ups, Slowing Internet Growth

L'Oreal Snaps up Start-ups: AR Beauty Is Just the Beginning (Forbes)
"The French beauty group broke new ground, acquiring its first start-up, Modiface — a Canadian start-up powering hundreds of these digital makeover experiences. Nurturing a new generation of beauty-tech talent is key to progress, it appears, with L'Oréal last year backing the beauty track at Station F, Paris — the world's largest startup campus."

Mary Meeker's Internet Trends Report: New Online Users Are Getting Harder to Find (Fortune)
"The findings of Meeker and her team pointed to a general trend of slowing growth in the Internet. Another interesting aspect of Meeker's presentation was the fact that simple-to-use apps are taking over, whether that's in messaging, commerce or media."

Walmart's Patens Show Future Vision (CNBC)
"The latest filings shine a light on how Walmart plans to take on an increasingly Amazon-dominated landscape. Filings show smart shopping carts,  a wearable device that tracks its users' activities and in-store drone assistance."

Google Is Actually Pretty Good at Identifying What People Are Wearing (Racked)
"In May, Google introduced a visual recognition tool called Style Match, which uses Google Lens to let you take pictures of clothing and then offers up similar, shoppable items from around the internet. Google Lens is good at identifying a product's key characteristics and offering similar options."

Amazon 'doesn't have private labels cracked' (Retail Dive)
"Amazon claims more than 80 percent of consumer conversions against other e-commerce sites across diverse product categories. AmazonBasics, a commodity goods line, makes up 88 percent of Amazon's private label products. But without electronics, Amazon enjoys just 26 percent conversion share."