The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has appointed two key staff to positions within its Travel Retail Leadership Team. They are Matthieu Cheyrou (Vice President/General Manager, Clinique, Travel Retail Worldwide) and Tracy Xu (Vice President/General Manager, Origins, Aveda and Lab Series, Travel Retail Worldwide). Both appointments were effective from 1 January.
In his new role, Cheyrou (pictured below) will lead Clinique’s development in global travel retail. He will work closely with retail partners and drive continued growth for Clinique by expanding distribution, customer reach, profitability and innovation.
Cheyrou was previously Vice President of Marketing, Estée Lauder Travel Retail Worldwide, where he helped design customer-centric brand-building activations around key shopping moments and product launches. During his tenure, ELC noted that Cheyrou developed an omnichannel approach to all new activities in the channel and helped launch many travel retail-exclusive campaigns.
He partnered with both retailers and regional travel retail teams to launch new omnichannel business models and open new flagship Estée Lauder counters around the world.
Cheyrou will report directly to ELC Travel Retail Global President Israel Assa with a matrix reporting line to ELC Global Senior Vice President/General Manager, International, Clinique Bart Sayer. His successor will be announced at a later date.
Leveraging her international markets expertise, Tracy Xu (pictured below) will be responsible for managing and developing the brand experiences for the Origins, Aveda and Lab Series brands in global travel retail. In her new role, ELC said she will accelerate distribution, expand channel penetration, boost consumer engagement, build brand equity and maximise sales and profit growth in travel retail.
Prior to her appointment, Xu was most recently Executive Director, Marketing, Bobbi Brown, Travel Retail Worldwide, In this role, Xu developed Bobbi Brown’s brand strategy to expand market share. She helped the brand navigate the COVID-19 crisis and pivoted to drive growth in China and particularly Hainan, while preparing the brand’s core markets for the eventual return of travel.
Xu collaborated with global brand heads to tailor launches so that they catered to the evolving demands of the travelling consumer. She also developed a three-year category evolution plan to drive category growth in the channel.
Xu also rolled out new visual merchandising for Bobbi Brown which was centred on format and consumer corridors with a focus on hero products. She oversaw consumer online engagement and helped roll out virtual try-on capabilities. Xu also launched the channel-exclusive ‘Well Travelled’ campaign, an end-to-end 360-degree beauty campaign.
In June 2022, Xu took on the additional role of Acting General Manager Origins, Aveda and Lab Series, Travel Retail Asia Pacific, where she streamlined distribution and kickstarted the brands’ post-COVID reopening and growth strategies.
Xu will report directly to ELC Travel Retail Global President Israel Assa with matrix reporting lines to ELC Vice President/General Manager, International, Origins Amanda Le Roux; Senior Vice President, International, Aveda Michael Marcano; and Executive Director, International, Darphin Paris and Lab Series Edouard Marchand. Her successor will also be announced at a later date. 
