Introduction: In this exclusive interview, L’Oréal Paris Brand President Delphine Viguier-Hovasse celebrates recent brand milestones including its sixth public runway show during Paris Fashion Week and maintaining the coveted title of the world’s number one beauty brand.
She also talks about L’Oréal Paris’ power as a recruitment driver, its ten-year sustainability roadmap and how it is adapting to meet the diverse needs of the modern traveller in line with L’Oréal Groupe’s wider ‘Beauty for all and for each one’ mission.
In a recent survey conducted in partnership with m1nd-set, L’Oréal Paris asked travellers who were leaving a perfumes & cosmetics duty free store in Dubai International Airport or Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport what brand led them to enter the shop. Of more than 700 respondents, 13% said L’Oréal Paris – representing the biggest share in the survey. “We are the entry point of the customer and travellers into the P&C category,” Viguier-Hovasse explains. “More than 13% of travellers enter the P&C store because of L’Oréal Paris and more than 30% of those travellers buy another brand on top, underlining our power as a recruitment brand.”
Meeting diverse needs of travellers
Earlier this year, L’Oréal Groupe reimagined its ‘Beauty for all’ mission to cater to the increasingly diverse needs of men and women around the world. Its new mission ‘Beauty for all and each and every one’ is what drives Viguier-Hovasse and L’Oréal Paris, particularly in travel retail where the pandemic crisis has led to evolving consumer needs. “We are offering all the product categories in the beauty spectrum so whether travellers are looking for men’s grooming, skincare, makeup or haircare, we have it.
“We are putting a lot of care and attention into the colour,” she adds. “The colours of our foundation – and this is true for our True Match and Infallible lines – are matched so that we cover 99.9% of all the skin tones in the world. We also organise shade assortments depending on regions. We don’t have the same shade assortment in the US, Scandinavia nor Asia, ensuring our offer is curated to meet the diverse beauty needs of travellers from all over the world.”
While L’Oréal Paris will always maintain its accessible price points, this doesn’t stop Viguier-Hovasse from premiumising and upscaling the brand. “We consider L’Oréal Paris to be an accessible luxury brand. Within the wider L’Oréal Groupe, we tend to choose the best formulas and the best innovations and it’s all about economies of scale. We can do that because we are one of the biggest brands in the portfolio. Thanks to our size, we can create the biggest events and use the best formulas, giving us the rarefied ability to constantly upgrade our products and premiumise our brand without raising prices. This is where you can make an impact on sustainability as well.
“For example, the Serum Bar [a striking visual merchandising concept that highlights the brand’s four key serums -Ed] offers the best Vitamin C formula, best Hyaluronic Acid formula, best Niacinamide formula and the best Retinol. Even if we are constantly upgrading the offer, we are still accessible with prices below US$20,” she adds.
Valued at US$12 billion, L’Oréal Paris was named the world’s most valuable cosmetics brand according to valuation consultancy Euromonitor. Viguier-Hovasse attributes this leadership position to two factors. She says: “L’Oréal Paris’ leadership position was driven by our powerful formulas, good-quality products and the fact that we are everywhere. Having a strong global network – both in travel retail and domestic – gives us a strong advantage because of our learnings from different geographies. We are learning so much about skincare from Asian beauty, about makeup in the US markets and about haircare in emerging markets.
“We are fuelled by all these learnings,” she adds. “We are the number one beauty brand in the world, but the beauty market is so fragmented. We are the leader with less than 10% market share. So, despite being number one, we still have a lot to conquer. We are very competitive and want to grow even more. Being first in the world is a statement of confidence in what we do but there is still a long way to go.
What role does travel retail play in helping L’Oréal Paris achieve and maintain its leadership position? “Travel retail is very important. We are now seeing a big recovery of international travel,” says Viguier-Hovasse. “Every year, more and more people travel. When travellers see L’Oréal Paris in airports offering the best skincare, makeup and haircare and with a consistent brand message – then people will perceive us more and more as a luxury brand with accessible prices.
“The fact that we are in travel retail, with consistent messaging to domestic markets all over the world, is extremely important for the brand. This is why I come to the TFWA World Exhibition every year. We are the only brand in our price point available within global travel retail at this scale and that is very powerful.”
L’Oréal for the Future, Because our Planet is Worth it
As the world’s number one beauty brand, L’Oréal Paris is determined to seize the moment and forge a new path to a more responsible future. Viguier-Hovasse says: “We stand at a critical crossroads: now is the time to choose what we want for tomorrow. For the planet, for our consumers and communities, for our products and for the beauty industry.
“The adventure and responsibility must be shared, and we are committed to doing our part while joining forces with our stakeholders. Our ‘L’Oréal for the Future, Because our Planet is Worth it’ programme is underpinned by a threefold ambition.
“We transform ourselves by creating more sustainable products and helping consumers to shift to better sustainable consumption habits. We empower our stakeholders by mobilising our entire ecosystem of suppliers, retailers and ambassadors to collectively improve our model and share growth with our communities. We also contribute to solving the challenges of our time and especially those that affect women. By supporting initiatives that are developing solutions to pressing social and environmental problems, like street harassment and the climate emergency.”
Viguier-Hovasse continues: “It may not exactly be sexy, and we may not be shouting about it enough, but our sustainability mission begins in our formulas. Our formulas are now 83% biodegradable and our goal is to reach 95% by 2030.
“We have been decreasing the weight of our packaging by -20% starting with haircare, which packaging should be made with 100% of plastics coming from recycled or biobased materials by 2030.We don’t transport using air freight and try and produce our products as locally as possible. We have also pledged to halve our carbon emissions per product sold by 2030.
“These initiatives are not visible to the consumer but they make a big impact, especially on the carbon footprint of our logistics and transport operations.”
Empowering 1 billion people to Stand Up against street harassment
Building on the Group’s strategy and objectives, L’Oréal Paris established a ten-year plan (2020-2030) underpinned by its belief in science and women empowerment. One of the standout initiatives of this roadmap is the Stand Up programme, an easy-to-understand training manual that helps women stand up against street harassment.
Viguier-Hovasse says: “I am very proud of the Stand Up programme, which we launched in 2020. Today, this programme is in 43 countries and has also been recognised as a public utility in Uruguay and Argentina. We are part of a lot of global national programmes with Stand Up and have trained over two million people. Our goal is to train as many people as there are L’Oréal Paris customers around the world and that is more than 1 billion people. It’s an S Curve – Stand Up grew one country at a time and now, at over 40 countries, with each country animating the campaign two to three times a year, this ambition of reaching 1 billion people with Stand Up is closer to reality than you’d think.”
Despite reaching the milestone of becoming the world’s number one beauty brand, Viguier-Hovasse and L’Oréal Paris show no signs of slowing down. She says: “We are the number one anti-ageing and skincare brand and now we want to be number one in makeup.
“We are already very strong in makeup and the brand is number one in several countries already but we think that makeup is having a big comeback. It’s all about bringing back the joy of beauty, especially after COVID-19. We are launching two product lines, the Infallible Matte Lipstick and Panorama Mascara, which will drive our makeup acceleration. We have also tapped American model Kendall Jenner as the new face of L’Oréal Paris with the aim of attracting a younger generation of consumers.”
Le Defilé: Walk Your Worth
During Paris Fashion Week, L’Oréal Paris made a big statement and hosted its sixth runway show underneath the Eiffel Tower. Unlike most shows during fashion week, the event was open for all and marked the debut of Kendall Jenner as the new face of the brand. Viguier-Hovasse comments: “The runway show perfectly expressed that we are a powerful, accessible luxury brand that can give you beautiful hair, beautiful makeup with French savoir-faire. L’Oréal Paris is for everyone and being here in TFWA, surrounded by luxury brands, our power as recruitment driver has never been more clear.”
The runway show welcomed the brand’s family of spokespeople who united to make a feminine and feminist statement. This meaningful event was open to all and broadcasted live on Instagram, on the brand’s websites, and, for the first time, on Roblox.
The brand’s diverse and inclusive line-up of international spokespeople walking in the show included Marie Bochet, Cindy Bruna, Camila Cabello, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Viola Davis, Elle Fanning, Luma Grothe, Kendall Jenner, Liya Kebede, Katherine Langford, Eva Longoria, Andie MacDowell, Helen Mirren, Aja Naomi King, Soo Joo Park, Aishwarya Rai and Yseult.
Offering her insight into what the L’Oréal Paris brand brings to the wider L’Oréal Groupe portfolio, Viguier-Hovasse concludes with the following thoughts: “We bring pride to the company as the brand that empowers women, stands up against street harassment and offers accessible beauty for all.
“We want to tell all women, L’Oréal Paris is here for you. For me that’s our number one mission. Our second mission is recruitment. Women enter the beauty world when they are 13, 14, 16 through L’Oréal Paris. Our target is young, working women who are on a journey towards finding who they are and conquering the world and we want to be their trusted beauty partner, friend, and travel companion throughout all the years of their life.” ✈
