L’Oréal’s Clarisonic prepares to clean up in the travel retail channel

Oliver Teboul: “Clarisonic represents a lot of potential new business, in units certainly, but in value too.”

L’Oréal’s Clarisonic is coming – very soon – to the travel retail channel. And if its domestic results are any indication, the brand is likely to (forgive the pun) clean up. Given its strength within the skin care sector, Asia has been earmarked as a key region for the device, which uses a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to gently yet thoroughly remove significantly more makeup, dirt and sebum than manual cleansing alone. It can be used with its own products, or other branded cleansers, as all devices are open platform.

“Clarisonic is a very interesting project for us,” L’Oréal Luxe Travel Retail Asia Pacific Division Manager Lancôme/Clarisonic Olivier Teboul tells the Moodie Report. “This market is so weighted towards skin care, and the [anchor] within that is to have the best cleansing routine, to allow the active ingredients of subsequent products to penetrate. Clarisonic is six times more effective than manual cleansing.”

The brand is already extremely successful in its home US market, but since acquiring it in December 2011, L’Oréal has wasted no time in exploring international opportunities. Importantly, Clarisonic has recently been launched in China, with excellent results.

“It is growing very fast,” Teboul confirms, “and became the number two skin care brand in Sephora China. When you consider that in our travel retail division, almost 50% of shoppers are of Chinese origin, this is a good sign for us.”

Crucially, Teboul underlines, Clarisonic represents purely additional business, which makes it interesting not just for L’Oréal, but for its retailers too. “We think it is a real breakthrough,” he noted. “It can be sold with any cleanser, so we have been testing it with products from all our brands, such as Helena Rubinstein, Biotherm, Kiehl’s and of course Lancôme, to discover which cleansers work best. But in US department stores, Clarisonic is sold on other (competitive) brands’ counters too. So the potential is huge.”

At around HK$1,500-2,000/€150-200, the price point is another positive. “That is a bonus for retailers,” Teboul acknowledges. “Clarisonic represents a lot of potential new business, in units certainly, but in value too. And we think it has great gifting appeal.”

Clarisonic has been described as the “future of skin care” by L’Oréal

Moreover, the systems can be adapted for use with different products, such as whitening treatments or cleansers to combat acne. “Clarisonic can be used for many things, and we are exploring these synergies within our portfolio,” notes Teboul. “For example, Biotherm has great products for oily skin. These could well appeal to younger consumers.”

Clarisonic systems are available in different versions, colours and limited editions, and are suitable for both female and male consumers. The Mia 2 is the entry level device, described by Teboul as very simple and easy to use. The Plus model is more premium, with extra brush options.

“Towards the end of the year we will launch a new product called the Aria,” Teboul reveals. “It is more targeted to travel retail, and will feature a USB charger, so travellers do not need to worry about plugs. It will be priced somewhere between the Mia 2 and the Plus.”

Clarisonic is scheduled to make its travel retail debut in Q4 this year, or at the latest, early 2014. “For now, there is nothing – but we are not in a rush,” Teboul remarks. “It is a wonderful product, and we want to get the launch exactly right. We are in the process of finalising details with our travel retail partners.”

He adds: “There’s also the question of awareness. With Clarisonic, we prefer to wait until the corresponding local markets have launched, to benefit from the publicity and PR.”

Teboul praised the efforts of L’Oréal’s domestic teams, and singled out the Clarisonic corner created to celebrate its launch in Lane Crawford Hong Kong. “Where possible, we will harness this best practice for travel retail too,” he confirms. “We are working on presentation and the way in which we display and explain the products.

“We want to begin with the retailers who are the most motivated, with the proper amount of space to give us – we need that for impact and visibility.”

In addition to Clarisonic, Teboul’s remit incorporates the group’s flagship Lancôme brand. “And it’s doing wonderfully,” he confirms. “It’s not always easy for a brand that’s already so big to grow double-digits consistently, but we have had some amazing performances this year.”

Génifique Yeux Light-Pearl Eye-Illuminating Youth Activator, which began its global travel retail roll-out in September 2012, has been one such product. “Even we didn’t expect such huge results,” says Teboul candidly. “From September to February this was our number one sku in units,” he continues. “Best of all, it did not cannibalise sales of Génifique eye cream.”

Still within skin care, Teboul has high hopes for the new Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate, and for Lancôme’s Visionnaire, which is finally being launched on the Chinese domestic market this summer. He also lauds Rénergie Multi-Lift Reviva-Plasma and, in fragrance, the continued success of La Vie Est Belle.

International Make-Up Artist for Asia Pacific Travel Retail Vic Tu works his make-over magic on The Moodie Report’s Rebecca Mann at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore

“This was our first big fragrance launch for a while, and at the same time, we renovated our miniature coffrets, which generated sell-out above the market trend,” Teboul confirms. “In addition, the new La Vie Est Belle L’Eau de Parfum Légère is coming. I think this lighter version will be very good for Asian doors.”

Make-up is not being neglected either. “We have appointed Vic Tu International Make-Up Artist for Asia Pacific Travel Retail,” Teboul explains. “The business we do here in make-up is the second biggest in the world for Lancôme, behind the US. We have some wonderful products, and this new guy is a showman, a star. He will help us train and develop our BAs and [in-store] make-up artists.”

Teboul concludes: “This business is important, and we treat our shops like worldwide flagship stores – with good reason. Of the top 20 Lancôme doors worldwide, 15 are in travel retail Asia.”

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