Baiyinah
Brookins
IND
250: Careers for the Digital Age
Dr.
Chung
Computing and Digital skills in the Natural Beauty Care
Industry: Interview
For this
assignment I’ve chosen to interview the buyer at a small health food store to get a better understanding of the role that technology has played in the health and beauty industry.
1.) What role does the internet and
technologies play in the natural beauty industry?
The
ordering process for a number of different products are conducted solely online
however some orders are still placed by making phone calls. The natural health
and beauty industry continues to grow as consumers recognize the benefits of
limiting petro-chemicals in beauty care products. She cites the fact that
this industry started out with a small number of businesses catering to what
was a niche market. Those numbers have exploded in resent years primarily
because of a growing awareness by consumers. Technology in my position is
limited to online ordering, there is not much automation, there is a POS (point
of sale) system that the health food store currently uses that tracks
inventory. This has made the process easy as the number of products
that the health food store has grown.
2.) Do you feel that coding or having
coding skills is important in your industry?
She went on to say, “Honestly I don’t have much experience with coding and have
almost no coding skills. I feel that these skills may be necessary if I was
creating a website but as a buyer I have not run into any problems in recent
years because of my limited coding knowledge." She went on to mention that as the industry becomes more and
more technology friendly it may be beneficial in the future.
3.) Big data is defined as larger
volumes of data that require innovative solutions for process automation. What
role does big data and analytics play in the natural beauty care industry?
There
may be a role in a larger organization that sale hundreds or thousands of
products however where I work is a small, and has a limited amount of
sales and inventory data. Processing this type of information is easily
obtained by accessing the POS (point of sale) system. I think that having
knowledge about big data and analytics is important for students because they
may go on to become a buyer for a larger organization.
4.) What is the role does website
development play in your industry?
She mentioned that as a buyer she rarely accesses web development or software tools, and she also stated that currently she doesn't see a need for it as a buyer. As a smaller organization it plays a limited role as a buyer but there may be a role played at other smaller organizations because this may not be something that can be out sourced because of budget constraints.
5.) Do applications (apps) or games play
a role in your industry?
"From what I have had the opportunity to observe apps and
games play a limited to non-existent role. Again the industry is constantly
evolving and this may change in the near future."
Check out this great article that highlights the increasing demand for natural hair and beauty care products.
Works Cited
Demand for Organic Beauty to Grow to Over $13 Billion by 2018, Report Says. (2016). Cosmeticsandtoiletries.com. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/formulating/category/natural/Demand-for-Organic-Beauty-to-Grow-to-Over-13-Billion-by-2018-Report-Says-213160491.html
