Trade Show: CES 2022

CES at a Glance

CES, the world’s largest tech fair, has returned to Las Vegas for the first time in two years. Over 2,300 exhibitors, including Fortune Global 500’s and start-ups from around the world, have gathered in person from 5 to 7 January and until January 31 online. Though attendance has dropped with the onset of the Omicron wave, well over 45,000 visitors have made the trip, including 30% from outside the US. Still, the impact of the pandemic was strongly felt at the event, which had to end one day early as a result, and saw a major drop in attendance from over 171,000 people in 2020. With several large brands canceling their physical participation at the last minute, including Google, TikTok, and Amazon, empty booths in sparsely populated halls were hard to ignore. Added to that, widely discussed concerns about supply-chain issues and a global chip shortage have meant some delays in product launches.

Nevertheless, a host of new, exciting products offer plenty to be positive about, with solutions to many of today’s challenges, from health care to sustainability, transportation, and more. Hundreds of this year’s CES Innovation Award Honorees have also been spotlighted at the event, with many discussed here, particularly if relevant to the beauty industry.

In terms of other major themes, this year the metaverse is very much on everyone’s mind, following Facebook’s announcement of its name-change to Meta, as well as blockchain technology and other forms of virtual interaction, which have been pushed forward at a faster pace by the pandemic. As more of us work remotely, and invest in smart appliances, greater connectivity between all manner of devices, worn or in the home, is top-of-mind for companies hoping to make our lives easier, by building on a kind of seamless, hybrid combo of virtual and real-life behavior of the future. 

The following is an excerpt from our CES 2022 Trade Show report. The full content is available on our BEAUTYSTREAMS Premium platform.