L’Oréal is seeking to become the ‘Unicornasaurus Rex’ of travel retail, as it continues to push the boundaries of innovation and sustainability. That is according to L’Oréal Travel Retail President Vincent Boinay, who talked about how the company is adapting to the future of beauty at its annual media briefing in Cannes.
A unicorn is a term used to describe a company that has disrupted its sector in a meaningful way.
Talking about L’Oréal Travel Retail’s latest beauty tech projects, Boinay highlighted the group’s partnership with TripAdvisor and Dufry; its salon water-saving solution; Lancôme shade finder tool; Modiface virtual try-on technology; and personalisation tools with L’Oréal Paris and Maison Martin Margiela.
He also highlighted the YSL Scent Station, an at-home tool that measures users’ emotional reactions to fragrances. Other examples of beauty tech at work included the SkinCeuticals light-powered skin analysis tool, and the group’s recent partnership with BreezoMeter weather data application.
BreezoMeter, recently acquired by Google, gives accurate weather and air quality forecasts. L’Oréal Travel Retail seeks to leverage this technology and offer accurate product recommendations for its customers, no matter where they travel. Boinay also discussed the importance of data, how the growth in downtown duty free has boosted L’Oréal Travel Retail’s data insights and the company’s exploration of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) and the Metaverse.
He said: “We embrace and seek to disrupt with technology. We love disruption and we encourage it. There is no opposition between old world companies like L’Oréal and unicorns. At L’Oréal Travel Retail, we want to become travel retail’s first ‘Unicornasaurus Rex’, a solid and robust old company as well as a disruptive beauty technology company. Travel retail needs disruption and we are here to push the boundaries.”
Boinay’s presentation was followed by L’Oréal Paris Travel Retail General Manager Karina Behar-Lecuiller who talked about L’Oréal Paris’ role as a ‘beauty democratiser’ and Luxe Brands General Manager Aglaé de Beauregard who underlined the power of the company’s fragrance portfolio.
Behar-Lecuiller said L’Oréal Paris is the embodiment of the group’s mission to ‘bring beauty to all travellers’. “Since COVID, there has been a true consumer shift,” she said. “Higher travelling costs, inflation and loss of buying power is balanced with revenge travel and the desire for reconnection. More and more, travellers are looking for products that offer good value for money.”
L’Oréal Paris surveyed 700 passengers at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport in July. It asked passengers which brand motivated them to enter the perfumes & cosmetics area. L’Oréal Paris came out top with 13% of respondents saying they entered the store for L’Oréal Paris.
Behar-Lecuiller described L’Oréal Paris as a complementary offer to luxury brands which can increase the beauty basket size. She also discussed the brand’s refreshed travel retail podiums and its popular ‘Serum Lab’ merchandising display.
De Beauregard looked back on some of the group’s biggest fragrance successes over the years. These include Lancôme’s La Vie Est Belle fragrance, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, and YSL Libre fragrance, the third best-selling fragrance in travel retail in 2021.
She also previewed Luxe Division’s latest launch, Prada Paradoxe. Under the banner, ‘Never the same, always myself’, Prada Paradoxe is one of the group’s biggest launches of 2022. The fragrance is supported by a commercial starring British actress Emma Watson who is also the director.
“Prada relates to a generation that is engaged and passionate about change and women’s empowerment. With Paradoxe, we created an avant-garde scent that is a true celebration of Prada’s DNA. Paradoxe will be everywhere in travel retail and will further drive Prada’s ambition to be a top beauty player worldwide,” De Beauregard said.
L’Oréal Active Cosmetics & Professional Products Divisions General Manager Anne-Laure LeCerf presented the dynamic growth of the group’s professional and active cosmetics division. According to LeCerf, the derma-cosmetics market is growing by +13% a year, while the professional salon market is growing by +12%.
“Kérastase is the world’s number one haircare brand across all channels and is a big driver for travel retail,” LeCerf said. “Powered by a new hair diagnosis tool, Kérastase successfully converts 49% of store visits to a purchase. The tool calculates customers’ scalp and hair needs, and gives them recommendations on Kérastase’s hero haircare lines, Genesis and Chronologiste.”
L’Oréal’s active cosmetics portfolio, which includes La Roche Posay, SkinCeuticals and Vichy, is outperforming in the market with La Roche Posay ranked the top derma-cosmetics brand globally. The brand grew +249% versus 2019 last year and is ranked the seventh-biggest skincare brand globally, LeCerf said.
LeCerf was followed by Global Communication and Engagement Director Travel Retail Bige Mercan who discussed the company’s sustainability roadmap, ‘L’Oréal for the Future’.
The group has transformed 100 out of 187 distribution centres to become carbon neutral facilities and has pledged to decrease its water usage by launching dry-shampoo and solid products.
To respect biodiversity, L’Oréal is working to improve the biodegradability of its formulas and to preserve endemic species of plants and animals. To preserve natural resources, the company is adopting refillable, recyclable and compostable plastic packaging.
In terms of social responsibility, L’Oréal Group has launched several corporate initiatives. Mercan highlighted the L’Oréal Paris Stand-Up training programme, which helps people report street harassment and its Solidarity Sourcing programme, which gives local producers fair living wages.
Commenting on Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Mercan said: “Our employees should be as diverse as the people we serve. We are one of the most gender-balanced companies in the world and are committed to empowering communities through corporate and brand initiatives.”
