Sustainability the key as L’Oréal affirms ‘sharing beauty with all’ mantra

L’Oréal at Cop21

The climate summit Cop21 (21st Conference of Parties) is currently being held in Paris to determine measures to keep global warming below 2°C. It is an international summit involving 196 representatives from 195 countries and the European Union which hopes to result in a binding low carbon agreement applicable to all countries from 2020.

Chairman and CEO of L’Oréal Jean-Paul Agon says, “A company in the 21st century can no longer envision its success and durability exclusively through the prism of economic performance. It has a duty to be responsible and to share its success.”

To this end, L’Oréal has drawn up three ‘sharing beauty with all’ commitments:

1. To reduce carbon emissions from its production by 60% by 2020.2. To raise consumer awareness for a more sustainable consumption.3. To honour a zero deforestation commitment.

Improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption are the main ways in which L’Oréal is working on reducing its carbon emissions. It wants to be seen to be an ecological, responsible and sustainable company. L’Oréal’s ambition is to become a carbon-balanced company and to begin transitioning towards a low carbon model by 2020.

 

They famously tell us that ‘we’re worth it’ and now L’Oréal is putting its money where its mouth is by unveiling a programme designed to treat the planet, the customers and its employees with greater respect.

The pronouncements that came down from the L’Oréal senior management team in Cannes this year were as ambitious and comprehensive as the company’s stand. The company seemed to have replicated an entire HQ, covering a whole floor of the conference centre with individual booths for each of its brands.

The L’Oréal Group spells big business in beauty. When they speak, the trade listens. At the press conference L’Oréal not only outlined the products and strategy of each of the brands under its umbrella, but L’Oréal Travel Retail Managing Director Vincent Boinay spoke passionately about the company’s visionary (and to a degree revolutionary) outlook that combines driving global business with nurturing the individual. Oh, and saving the planet.

Here, we present the highlights.

Vincent Boinay, Travel Retail Managing Director

The L’Oréal Managing Director Travel Retail opened the press conference by declaring that L’Oréal needs to be deeper and more meaningful than it has been in the past. He talked about growth opportunities for travel retail spanning three main elements:

1. Make-up

Make-up is the fastest-growing category in beauty, including in travel retail. Although it makes up only 15% of worldwide business, it is responsible for one-third of social media and digital development.

2. Dermacenters

Dermocosmetics are a very big story in beauty and Boinay asserted that, “health is the future of beauty in travel retail”. 20 Dermacenters will open in key locations by the end of the year.

3. The new brand platform of The Body Shop

Although The Body Shop is a small business in travel retail terms, there is a lot of affinity between the brand and the channel. Boinay highlighted the opportunities available for ‘retailtainment’ events, in particular.

The main focus of his presentation, however, was the idea of, ‘Sharing Beauty with All’ (see pdf report). Boinay explained that in the future L’Oréal intends to concentrate its efforts on meaningful development. This concept will cover four pillars: sustainable innovation, sustainability, living sustainably, and making beauty sustainable.

‘Beauty is knowing that every single purchase makes a difference. By 2020 100% of our products will have environmental or social benefits, whether a reduced water footprint or sustainably-sourced renewable raw materials, improved packaging or positive social impact.’ L’Oréal Group.

Boinay explained further, “At L’Oréal we want to bring beauty to everyone. We can make the right choice, the

desirable choice. It’s what drove us from the start. And it’s our vision for the future, for our employees, for our communities, for our consumers today and for the next billion consumers to come, Beauty belongs to all of us. Together we will make beauty sustainable: together we will make sustainability beautiful.”

L’Oréal’s mission statement: Make beauty sustainable. Make sustainability beautiful.

Taking sustainable innovation, Boinay said that the aim is to be, “extremely careful in the way we develop products: in the way we develop our travel exclusives, the size of the packaging, the usage of paper and the ingredients that we are selecting”.

Click here to read a recent report in The Moodie e-Zine by Martin Moodie on Vincent Boinay’s speech from Cannes

The idea is that sustainability must guide everything the company now does. For example, L’Oreal intend to re-use 50% of all materials used in its TFWA exhibition area, rather than waste the ornate (and expensive) display as in the past.

Another major decision is to favour sea shipments over air shipments where possible.

Living sustainably takes the ethos down to an individual level, to ‘share and care’. In every country, L’Oréal wishes to lead the way in terms of social responsibility by offering all employees exemplary rights and benefits, for example on maternity leave provision.

It is also working to enable 100,000 people from underprivileged communities have access to work.

Making beauty sustainable is a commitment by L’Oréal to ensure that by 2020, 100% of its products will be sustainable, carbon emissions will be reduced by 60% in absolute terms, waste and water use will be reduced by 60% per finished product unit and it will be sending zero waste to landfill.

Boinay said: “Consumers are at the heart of our commitment. Our brands will make information available about products and raise awareness about living sustainably.”

He concluded by underlining L’Oréal Travel Retail’s commitment to the company’s goal: ‘Make beauty sustainable. Make sustainability beautiful’.

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/236078123&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false

Vincent Boinay articulates the concept of ‘Sharing beauty with all’

Julie Audouin-Urdangaray, L’Oréal Luxe Travel Retail Brands Director

Julie Audouin-Urdangaray underlined the statement that make-up is the fastest-growing category in the beauty sector, even though it’s the smallest. For Millennials, make-up is often the first step in buying beauty products and so it acts as the recruitment channel for new customers.

Ms Audouin-Urdangaray cited the recently opened Urban Decay area at the front of the retail space in Dublin Airport. Displaying the colour and ‘excitement’ of a make-up collection at the entrance to the retail space has a magpie-effect, drawing consumers in to take a closer look.

Attention-grabbing colour at Shu Uemura

Also in the case of Shu Uemura, “consumers are being stopped by the impact of colour. The make-up brings customers into the shop even if they then buy skincare,” which Ms. Audouin-Urdangaray went on to explain is also the case for Lancôme whose business in Asia is 85% skincare.

For Yves Saint Laurent, growth in Asia is coming from make-up. Although fragrance is the main business, “colour brings energy and impact to the brand”.

Again, for Armani, while foundation is the big seller for the business, particularly in Asia, it is the colour cosmetics which bring people into the store because they offer, “modernity, colour and impact”.

Painting the town: make-up is a small but rapidly growing sector in travel retail beauty

Piermarco Luzzatto, Travel Retail Active Cosmetics

One of the most dynamic categories for L’Oreal is active cosmetics, specifically the rolling-out of Dermacenters.

Click here to read Martin Moodie’s recent interview with Vincent Boinay in The

Moodie e-Zine

In layman’s terms, ‘active cosmetics’ means adding health to beauty – which in turn makes beauty sustainable. As Luzzatto outlined, up until recently the health and beauty sector didn’t exist in travel retail. It is an area that’s been fuelled by “very deep trends and consumer needs. A move from curing to caring”.

This has helped to boost the capital of health and L’Oréal is well placed to make the most of it with brands La Roche-Posay, which is recommended by dermatologists, and Vichy, which Luzzatto described as the number one dermatological skincare in the world.

This sustainable way of looking at beauty turns a spotlight on current health issues including obesity, diabetes, and the impact on the skin of allergies and pollutants.

Luzzatto said that these centres represent, “a unique category that offers unique services”.

The Dermacenters offer skin check-ups and advice alongside the sale of dermocosmetic products. According to L’Oréal, the centres are run based on trust, safety, efficacy and tolerance. With a strong blue cross logo design, there are currently 11 Dermacenters across the world, recent openings include Oslo and Sao Paulo. This number will rise to 20 by the end of the year with a strong acceleration in Asia and South America.

Alongside professional derma advisors, the Dermacenters also include a dermo-analyser, a machine which can provide up-to-the-minute, live information via Wi-Fi on pollution levels, weather, wind chill levels and more regarding the location where the consumer is heading. Advice can then be given on appropriate skincare routines.

The aim is that one day travellers will be able to scan their boarding card for advice on how to take care of their skin at their destination.

With a strong pharmaceutical influence, the Dermacenters combine health and beauty

Mathieu Guichardaz, General Manager, The Body Shop Travel Retail

With 500 stores throughout the world, Mathieu Guichardaz began his presentation with the news that The Body Shop is outperforming the market.

In what promises to be an exciting development for the natural beauty brand, Guichardaz laid out the plans for its evolution. A tag line of ‘It’s good isn’t it?’ reminds consumers of the The Body Shop’s values of kindness, generosity and caring.

Guichardaz spoke of ‘the fantastic opportunity for growth’ that the company intends to harness with “a totally different look and feel of the brand, building on the existing identity”.

He continued: “We see premium skincare as the key so we are moving towards that with the launch of a very strong packaging look featuring an engraved logo and black cap. It looks selective but remains accessible. We are not competing with luxury brands; we want to remain accessible”.

Guichardaz went on to say that, with a shared interest in global cultures, “The Body Shop has an affinity with travel retail”. This also links to the idea of The Body Shop as a gifting brand with a product offer that can appeal to a wide-ranging demographic. He spoke of plans to be “disruptive in the channel” playing on the brand’s “streak of British irreverence” to stage retailtainment events.

Guichardaz concluded by looking ahead to February 2016 when The Body Shop will “strongly reaffirm our

positive effect on the planet” building on its fair trade, ethical and campaigning values.

Value added: The Body Shop remains loyal to its ethical roots

Stand and deliver: An overview of the L’Oréal presence at TFWA World Exhibition

Kérastase offers an on-counter diagnosis with a hairdresser who can then advise on an appropriate haircare routine. In terms of strategy, the brand uses travel retail to recruit customers to the local market.

Kiehl’s is concerned with creating interesting retail spaces complete with a gifting area and photo booth. The brand wants its retail space to communicate the gifting spirit even if the customer doesn’t have the time to stop and gift-wrap.

The gift-wrap counter at Kiehl’s

Roger & Gallet, a quintessential Parisian company, has a whole new brand coming out soon. The focus here is on gifts or, ‘the perfect Parisian gift’, inspired by the idea of Ladurée macarons enveloped in tissue paper and packaged in a beautiful bag. The brand is doing very well in Japan.

Urban Decay’s Naked Palette accounts for 50% of its business and a new smoky version has just been added to the range. Six doors have opened in European airports so far with the flagship in Dublin. The brand boasts that it can ‘turn a customer who doesn’t wear make-up into one who dares to try new things’.

Another key product for travel retail is the All-Nighter Make-up Setting Spray, which claims to keep make-up in place for up to 16 hours. Urban Decay wants to reach number six or seven in Asia by the end of the year.

The Naked Palette has made the name of Urban Decay

Clarisonic has been described as the ‘step zero’ of the skincare routine. The machine cleanses skin very gently and can work together with its L’Oréal sister brands, including Lancôme, Kiehls, Biotherm, Vichy and La Roche-Posay. Clarisonic offers personalised diagnosis at POS.

Biotherm is positioning itself as the ‘most affordable luxury brand in travel retail’.

Travel retail palettes from L’Oréal Paris

L’Oréal Paris presented new colour palettes in packaging designed to look much more premium. Looks On the Go is a range of travel retail exclusives, available in portable compacts displaying the different looks (such as smoky or natural) on the outer packaging.

NYX is a make-up brand acquired last year. One to watch in the channel as plans firm up.

L’Oréal Skin Expert is a strong brand in luxury with premium packaging to bolster this. Travel retail exclusives are usually linked to the brand’s focus on anti-aging and hydration.

L’Oréal Men Expert acknowledges that men are very hard to capture in travel retail. It addresses this dilemma by using very straightforward, easy to understand displays and mini gondolas. Hydra Energetic launched last year. According to L’Oréal the line is doing well and plans for the second half of 2016 include rolling out a greater product range in key airports.

Designer fragrance covers two different kinds of brands: the accessible, lifestyle fragrances such as Cacharel and Diesel, which has a new fragrance launching soon, and the high-end lines such as Viktor & Rolf.

Ralph Lauren is a classic luxury brand, which will see a re-launch of the refreshing, aquatic Polo Blue next year in an EDP.

Recently, Ralph Lauren launched Polo Supreme Oud, the first trial for the brand with an oud fragrance. The positioning for Polo Supreme Oud was higher and more luxurious than other Polo Ralph Lauren fragrances. Following the success of Polo Supreme Oud, Polo Supreme Leather, described as ‘very much a Middle Eastern

fragrance’ launched in Dubai Dubai Free with a one-month exclusive.