L'Oreal claims leadership of Thailand's skincare market
L'Oreal (Thailand) Co, the No 2 beauty company in the Kingdom, says it has achieved leadership of the country's skincare market with an 18-per cent share.
The company claims to be the fastest-growing beauty company in the country, with a 19-per-cent increase in overall business turnover in 2012 with 112 million products sold and continued double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year.
“L’Oreal Thailand showed continued strong performance in 2012 and in the first quarter of 2013 with its leadership in the skincare market,” said Umesh Phadke, managing director of L’Oreal Thailand.
“In 2012, the Thai beauty market grew at 11.6 per cent and was worth Bt105 billion, with skincare the biggest market sector, representing 45 per cent of the market. Thailand’s skincare market is the largest in Asean.”
Last year’s sales increase last year was driven by key products from L’Oreal Paris and Garnier Paris under the consumer-products division (CPD), which represents 70 per cent of L’Oreal Thailand’s business.
“Our success in the skincare category is driven by our understanding of consumer needs, strong product innovations, comprehensive distribution channels and the use of effective communications,” said Tim Berger, CPD general manager.
“The skincare market is unique in reflecting consumers’ personal needs when compared with beauty products in other categories. And to better understand those needs, in 2012 we doubled our home visits countrywide to talk to our consumers face to face. We have also increased our market-research budget by 20 per cent.
“Currently, our skincare products are sold in 150,000 outlets nationwide. The CPD team has also worked closely with our regional team to provide skincare products that closely match the needs of our Thai customers.
“CPD is also known for its effective mixed-media communications campaigns, and we use a number of different presenters to represent our skincare products, to reflect different beauty aspirations and create local relevance,” he added.
Phadke said: “Our company’s strong growth is driven by ‘The Universalisation and Beauty for All’ strategy, which focuses on localising our world-class innovations to meet the infinite diversity of beauty needs, desires, cultures, and purchasing powers in each market around the world.
“This allows us to share consumer insights with our major labs in Paris, Japan and China to adjust and develop formulations to suit our needs and preference,” he added.
L’Oreal is the world leader in research-and-development investment in the beauty industry, with 721 million euros (Bt27.4 billion) funded and 611 patents registered in a year.
Phadke said the company was on its way to becoming Thailand’s beauty leader in the near future.
“Science has long been a cornerstone of our business. Every L’Oreal product is the result of original scientific research and we are proud to consistently offer the best and safest products to our consumers in the belief that the pursuit of beauty has the power to change lives,” he said.
