Charlotte Tilbury targets the Middle East and Asia for 2018; Luxe Division remains powerhouse for L'Oréal; Top Performing Beauty and Personal Care CEOs ranked by Harvard; and Catch Marketplace reaches $1 million milestone in weekly sales.
Charlotte Tilbury targets the Middle East and Asia for 2018
With over 25 years experience at the pointy end of the beauty industry, A-list favourite Charlotte Tilbury easily lays claim to the title of world's number one makeup artist. Her signature makeup range has won a laundry list of awards because women of all ages love such cult products as Magic Cream, Wonder Glow and Full Fat Lashes. After taking the US and Australia by storm, the British entrepreneur, who has worked on such famous visages as Gigi Hadid, Nicole Kidman and Miranda Kerr, is reaching out to two of the fastest-growing makeup markets in the world – the Middle East and Asia.
The increasing diversification of beauty is a natural segue for Charlotte Tilbury whose client list includes Amal Clooney. She has pushed strongly into the Middle East with the recent launch of the first Wonderland store outside the UK in Kuwait's The Avenues Mall. Last week the doors opened in Doha at Festival City and in January Tilbury's luxury makeup lineup will debut in Dubai Mall. The three standalone stores boast the latest digital innovations, including the Magic Mirror which drapes the faces of beauty lovers with her 10 iconic looks, and glamour interiors packed with red velvet sofas, Art Deco light fittings and vintage Hollywood-style vanity tables.
Next stop Asia for the Tilbury Makeup Revolution, where the brand already has a loyal base of customers. Luxury Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford will premiere the brand in the region next year and further expansion plans will be announced over the next few months. Joanna Gunn, Chief Brand Officer, Lane Crawford says: "The Lane Crawford beauty customer is constantly looking for newness so we are thrilled to collaborate with Charlotte Tilbury to exclusively launch the brand in Hong Kong, and we are very excited to bring the brand's experience in-store and through our online platform".
Luxe Division remains powerhouse for L'Oréal
Continued growth remained a given for L'Oréal in Q3, with the French giant enjoying a 5.1 per cent uplift in global sales to 6.1 billion euros ($AU9.25 billion). The Consumer Products Division (L'Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline etc.) pulled in 2.8 billion euros ($AU4.24 billion) for the period. But the highlight of the fiscal quarter was the double-digit increase posted by the Luxe Division (Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, YSL and Kiehl's) to 2 billion euros ($AU3.03 billion).
Strong performances in the Asia-Pacific region (+14.7%), particularly China, Latin America and Eastern Europe accelerated the multinational's sales, said CEO, Jean-Paul Agon. “Western Europe is continuing to deliver a solid performance. The growth in sales also continues to be boosted by our digital lead, particularly in the sustained expansion of e-commerce sales".
New products that launched with a bang included Lancôme Advanced Génifique Sensitive and La Vie est Belle L'Éclat fragrance. Another bullet performer was the Active Cosmetics Division (La Roche-Posay, Vichy) which saw global sales rise to 475.7 million euros ($AU721.6 million) over the period. Due to intense competition in the category, the Professional Products Division experienced only slight growth of 0.5 per cent to 779.2 million euros ($AU1.18 billion).
The Top Performing Beauty and Personal Care CEOs ranked by Harvard
The Harvard Business Review takes the long view. The CEOs of global multinationals wait with bated breath for the prestige management magazine's annual Best Performing CEOs in the World rankings, which is essentially a report card on how they are doing. There's nothing subjective or flash-in-the-pan about the judgments. The publication carefully evaluates the performance of executives over their entire tenure.
The number one ranking for 2017 – out of 100 places – went to Pablo Isla, the CEO of Inditex, the parent company of Zara, who has guided the world's largest fashion retailer for 12 years. Bernard Arnault, the Chairman of LVMH, who owns Sephora and many fragrance and makeup brands including Dior and Benefit, filled the number five slot.
But the number one pure play beauty CEO was Suh Kyung-Bae, the CEO of AmorePacific, South Korea's largest cosmetic company at Number 20. Not only is the entrepreneurial genius Korea's second-richest man with a personal fortune of $US8.2 billion, he has guided the company for 20 years, expanding so rapidly that AmorePacific is now one of the world's Top 10 beauty companies.
Estée Lauder CEO, Fabrizio Freda, was ranked number 25, followed by Leslie Wexner (Victoria's Secret; number 56), Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever (number 82), Jean-Paul Agon, CEO of L'Oréal (number 87) and Ian Cook, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive (number 100).
Catch Marketplace reaches $1 million milestone in weekly sales
Napoleon Perdis is the latest big name beauty brand to debut on Catch Marketplace, joining other majors such as Maybelline, Garnier, NARS, Revlon and L'Oréal. Launched in June, the lucrative newbie now generates more than $1 million a week in sales – 15 per cent of Catch.com.au's overall revenues.
The future looks even more glittering. Catch Group CEO Nati Harpaz expects the marketplace to account for more than 30 to 40 per cent of total sales within the first year of operation. Over the past four months, the product range on Catch.com.au has ballooned from 20,000 to 200,000 as brands rush to sign up.
Snippets from the wires
- Australia's love affair with fitness has attracted major European sports chains such as French lead player Decathlon and JD Sports from the UK. The British giant which operates 1200 stores in Europe and the UK will open its fifth Australian store in Melbourne's High Point Shopping Centre this week. At 450 square metres, it is the company's second largest Aussie outpost.
- Hourglass Cosmetics was acquired by Unilever in June. Founded in 2004 by Carisa Janes, the upmarket brand is sold in tentpole retailers such as Sephora, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods. Janes has announced that the company has a target of becoming 100 per cent vegan by 2020.
- Burt's Bees put in a strong performance in Q1 2018 to help parent company Clorox deliver a sales lift of 4 per cent for the quarter to $US257 million.
- According to the 2017 Green Beauty Barometer in the US, compiled by Kari Gran skincare and Harris Poll, a significant percentage of women of all ages are seeking to purchase more naturally-derived beauty products. Millennials lead the way at 75 per cent, followed closely by women aged 35 to 44 (69%) and women aged 45 to 54 (68%).
