FRANCE. According to L’Oréal’s Scental – Travel Retail Asia Pacific division, growth at Helena Rubenstein, Shu Uemura and Biotherm is continuing at a strong pace.
Commenting on the outlook for 2003, Scental new brands divison manager Jacques Gouallou said “Helena Rubinstein is now a major cosmetic brand in the travel retail landscape. Its strong skin care franchises, enhanced by the success of Collagenist and Prodigy, and its unique mascaras have increased the sales per door by +24% in one year during the first two months of 2003.” Helena Rubenstein had 22 travel retail counters in 2002 and nearly 30 are planned for the end of 2003.
Meanwhile the rollout of Biotherm in Asia Pacific duty free – that started last year in June at Hong Kong airport – is going on at a steady pace. After two counters at Seoul Incheon airport in Korea at the end of last year and one counter at Bangkok airport in February the brand will soon be introduced in Taiwan and in Philippines. A stand-alone Biotherm shop is to open in Singapore Changi T2 in June with Nuance-WAtson. Next step is the introduction of the makeup range that aims to make Biotherm a global cosmetic brand.
Apart from its two historical markets of Japan and Taiwan, Shu Uemura is now booming in Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Hong Kong domestic markets with triple digit growth said Scental. Shu Uemura undoubtedly has the potential to becoming a major player in travel retail in Asia Pacific.
