L’Oréal Groupe is spotlighting its ‘Entertainment Destination’ strategy at the Hainan Expo (13-18 April, click here for our rolling coverage) by showcasing its diverse portfolio of beauty brands through storytelling, expertise-led and digitally-driven experiences.
According to L’Oréal, its presence at the Expo underlines its long-term commitment to Hainan as a strategic travel retail hub. This is the sixth consecutive year that the beauty giant has exhibited at the event.
For L’Oréal, Hainan is a key platform to engage both domestic and international travellers through product innovation and experience-led activations. The company said it is capitalising on the scale and diversity of the market and new opportunities offered by the Hainan Free Trade Port ecosystem.
L’Oréal’s exhibition concept ‘A Golden Beauty Summer’ was inspired from a luxury seaside escape. It offers a multi-category journey spanning skincare, makeup, fragrance and haircare. It also showcases the group’s mission to transform points-of-sale into entertainment destinations through engaging experience-led journeys that blend expertise, creativity and storytelling.
The showcase features flagship brands including Lancôme, YSL Beauty and Armani Beauty, alongside travel retail-exclusive sets from Helena Rubinstein, Prada Beauty, Kiehl’s and Kérastase.
Armani Beauty presents its Summer Mare 2026 concept, while YSL Beauty is showcasing its Summer Freedom campaign.
Lancôme is bringing its Beach Club concept to life as a sun-drenched experiential space. The Lancôme area highlights key franchises including Génifique, Absolue and Idôle, while offering a holistic journey that spans skincare and makeup.
L’Oréal Travel Retail Worldwide President Eva Yu commented: “Hainan remains central to L’Oréal Travel Retail’s global ambition as a key international business destination and travel retail hub, where we can continuously reinvent retail, innovate, create immersive experiences, and strong ecosystem partnerships. We remain committed to sustained long-term growth and shaping the future of travel retail in Hainan.”
L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific Managing Director Jesus Abia added: “At L’Oréal Travel Retail, we are strengthening how we engage travellers across their full travel journey, with powerful brand activations, targeted engagement and ecosystem partnerships to better serve travellers and accelerate new consumer recruitment in one of our key travel retail hubs – Hainan.”
L’Oréal North Asia Zone President and L’Oréal China Vincent Boinay reaffirmed the company’s confidence in the Chinese and Hainan market. He said: “China remains a strategic priority for L’Oréal Groupe, and with Hainan as the China’s largest free trade zone, we continue to create strong momentum for innovation, enhanced savvy consumer immersive experiences and new avenues for long-term growth.”
The L’Oréal Pavilion builds on a series of large-scale activations staged across Hainan in March in partnership with China Duty Free Group (CDFG). The activations spanned luxury beauty, dermatological skincare and professional haircare categories.
Among the highlights was the YSL Beauty Lovestore concept at the cdf Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex (cdf Mall). The supermarket-inspired activation incorporated gamified shopping and self-checkout technology. It also featured interactive elements such as product challenges and personalised beauty services. It ran from 1-29 March.
At the centre of the concept was a world-first AI-powered Lovestore Assistant Robot. The robot engaged shoppers through tailored prompts and questionnaires, guiding them through the space and enhancing product discovery.
Highlights included the Lovestore Candy Bar, which offered complimentary candy floss, and Candy Games, a Tetris-inspired challenge.
In addition, the Trolley Race retailtainment experience invited travellers to compete against the clock to collect hero products. Participants were rewarded with vouchers for complimentary flash make-up services upon completion.
Gifting was reimagined through playful, design-led formats, with packaging inspired by everyday supermarket items such as biscuit tins and milk cartons, positioned as collectible items. The experience concluded with a mystery box mechanic, which were concealed within refrigerator-style displays.
In addition, Kérastase ran the ‘Gloss Absolu French Rose Garden’ pop-up at the cdf Mall . The multi-sensory pop-up featured interactive zones for hair transformation and education, with a focus on the new gloss-enhancing innovation.
Evoking a Parisian rose garden in full bloom, the space reimagined the cdf Mall as a luminous sanctuary, highlighting Gloss Absolu’s ability to add gloss and bounce to frizz-prone hair.
In March, SkinCeuticals debuted the Future Radiant Glass Skin Lab at the cdf Sanya complex. Also hosted at the cdf Mall, the dermo-cosmetic pop-up offered AI-powered skin analysis and showcased the brand’s latest peptide-based anti-wrinkle innovation P-TIOX.
L’Oréal said these initiatives collectively demonstrate how Hainan is serving as a global benchmark for next-generation beauty retailing and recruitment. It added that Hainan is an ideal platform for brands to test and scale new formats that merge digital engagement, personalisation and high-impact storytelling.
L’Oréal said that its continued investment in the market aligns with the broader ambition of the Hainan Free Trade Port to position the island as a leading international consumption destination, supported by innovation-driven retail experiences and an expanding traveller base. 🏝️
