L’Oréal growth remains strong in China despite economic slowdown

By Simon Pitman+, 02-Aug-2016, cosmeticsdesign-asia

 Despite the economic slowdown in China, L’Oréal’s performance in the country continues to go from strength to strength as the product innovation pipeline is maintained.

The article shares the information that for the first six months of the year the like-for-like growth was 4.6 to €2.8bn, while on a reported basis it rose 0.6%.

L’Oréal Luxe maintains momentum in China

Especially the performance of the luxury brands Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani contributed to the strong sales of the company’s luxe division. In the Asia Pacific region it has been driven by the launch of Ultra Doux in China and India, while in Southern Asia the reason lies behind the roll-out of the Garnier brand.

On an international basis, the company stressed that the currency negatively impacted the results by 3.9% for the first six month of the year. According to the group, the like-for-like revenues for the first half of the year accounted for 4.2% to €12.89bn, which represented a reported growth of 0.6%, taking into consideration the negative impact of currency exchange.

Interestingly, all divisions and geographies reported growth despite the impact from currency translation, while the Luxe and Active Cosmetics divisions were the most outstanding ones despite the challenging situation.

“L’Oréal Luxe, in a market that remains solid, is continuing to deliver sustained growth by capitalizing on its unique brand portfolio and by maintaining its innovation drive”, explains L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon, who points equally out that the strength of the group lies definitely within its balanced business model.

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Eye on the Trends in Asia: customisation

By Lucy Whitehouse +, 20-Jul-2016, cosmeticsdesign-asia

Four key trends are tipped to define the skin care market in Asia in the coming years, according to research from Euromonitor International. In this series of specials, Cosmetics Design takes a closer look at each, starting here with customisation.

According to a research analyst with Euromonitor based in Singapore, customization is defined as key trend, since the consumer demand for personalized skin care products is growing. Indeed, 50.5% of the respondents claimed ‘suited to my skin type’ as the decisive element during their last skin care purchase.

In China there are five key areas in which personalization is strongly demanded:

• Age
• Moisture balance
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Lifestyle

Consequently, the article outlines the importance of catering to consumers’ specific needs related to ethnicity and offering products that correspond to the consumers’ local environments, climates and cultural beliefs and identities.

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Clarins targets Asian consumers with skin whitening range

By Lucy Whitehouse +, 30-Mar-2016, cosmeticsdesign-asia

Premium skin care brand Clarins has spoken of its focus on skin whitening in its strategy to target Asian consumers.

With their recent launch of the Clarins White Plus Pure Translucency Tri-Intensive Brightening Serum the management intended to meet Asian women’s needs.

According to Datamonitor, half of the interrogated Asian women declare skin whitening benefits as essential skin care products, whereas the percentage in North America accounts only for 24% and 22% in Western Europe.

Furthermore, Euromonitor has found out that the demand for male-specific skin care products in Asia is leading the rise of the segment globally. The firm’s analyst points out that “The majority of growth is coming from the skin care inclined Asia pacific region, however, upcoming emerging markets in men’s skin care include Latin America”.

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What is halal skin care and makeup, and what are the trends?

By Lucy Whitehouse +, cosmeticsdesign-europe, 06-Jul-2016

Halal is becoming big business for the beauty industry globally, and particularly in Asia: a central focus for this week’s in-cosmetics Korea event, we take a closer look at the trend.

Kunal Mahajan, project manager of Chemicals & Energy at Kline - top management consulting firm serving the Chemicals industry globally – explains in the article that “halal” can not only be associated with food and beverages, but that its denomination is equally appropriate for pharmaceuticals, personal care, skincare and hair care products.

But what makes a product halal and why does “halal” become a trend in cosmetics?
Mahajan outlines the answers in detail in his article: The key contributors to this trend is economics and the changing consumer lifestyle.

According to Mahajan, top growth regions for halal products will be the Middle East and Asia, particularly South Asia and Southeast Asia.

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