“What is so great about travel retail is that the people are so dynamic… They are constantly questioning how to improve the stores and how to better service the passengers.” |
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Chantal Roos has been rebuilding YSL Beauté piece-by-piece since her return to the group’s helm in 2000 |
FRANCE. In 2000 one of the beauty industry’s most high-profile executives returned to the brand that catapulted her into perfumery’s premier league.
The prospect of rejuvenating YSL Beauté managed to lure Chantal Roos – creator of such iconic fragrances as Opium, L’Eau d’Issey and Jean Paul Gaultier Classique – away from Beauté Prestige International (BPI) and back to the house where her career took off.
But in Roos’ ten-year absence, much had changed, and there were serious challenges to address, in terms of distribution, competition, personnel, image and innovation. True to form, Roos rolled up her (couture) sleeves and got down to the job in hand.
Thus the turnaround began. For the flagship brand Yves Saint Laurent, make-up blazed a trail that was soon followed by a new feminine fragrance Cinéma. Meanwhile, scents from thrusting young designers, such as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, also made their debut.
The distribution was cleaned up, as was the management, and a new era began. So, does Roos consider her latest half-dozen years with the group to be “six of the best” – or second best?
“2005 was a rich year,” she replies. “The launch of Cinéma developed nicely all over the world. What has been particularly great is that Cinéma has been incremental business. It has not hurt Opium at all, which is very important. And we had another huge year within make-up.”
Colour was the foundation stone on which Roos decided to rebuild the house of YSL. And it has delivered impressive performances, both domestically and in travel retail, scorching up the rankings and gaining significant market share.
With Cinéma developing into a second pillar line for YSL, Roos is now keen to focus on the group’s designer division. “We had a difficult story at the start with Alexander McQueen,” she admits candidly. “We perceived very quickly that the first fragrance [Kingdom], launched in 2003, would remain a very niche line. It was not enough of a statement to establish the brand.
“The launch of Cinéma has developed nicely all over the world. And it is incremental business. It has not hurt Opium at all.” |
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2005 was a “rich year”, says Roos, thanks largely to the success of Cinéma and YSL make-up |
“So in 2005, we have launched another fragrance, MyQueen, into Anglo-Saxon markets. The first results show that it has started well, much better than the previous one.”
Meanwhile Stella, the debut fragrance from Stella McCartney, has turned in a solid performance. “As an example, at the end of last September year-to-date, without any new launches or openings, we were up +13%,” notes Roos with satisfaction. “The line is growing in a very healthy way.
“And that is despite the difficulties inherent in launching a new or smaller brand in today’s saturated market-place.
“Today everybody is always looking for something new, or for new brands,” sighs Roos. “And when a big brand arrives with a new launch, all the doors are open. But when you arrive with smaller brands, such as Van Cleef & Arpels – which has been in the market since the 1970s – it is much more difficult to establish territory, and to continue to exist.
“The distribution has less patience, less time and less space to give to you because there are so many launches. In the 70s there were maybe two a year, now you have 100. So there is less time to express yourself, and that is not to the advantage of the those traditional brands, who still have loyal customers.”
Roos continues: “Van Cleef does meaningful business in countries such as France and Italy; Boucheron is still very popular in the US and France; Oscar de la Renta is important for the US, Canada and South America.
“They aren’t global brands, let’s be realistic. And you can’t force the distribution – it’s always better to be in demand. But neither can you address everything simultaneously unless you’re a huge name like Chanel, so then you need to be more tactical.”
And Roos’ tactics, for those brands at least, revolve around the regional. “With certain brands that is our strategy, but that’s increasingly the case even within the YSL portfolio,” she notes. “Think of Baby Doll. You wouldn’t consider it for Europe, but it is very strong in Asia, particularly in Japan, and we take care to promote and animate it in the appropriate Asian style.”
More haste, less speed seems to be the credo. “I like to grow brands step by step,” underlines Roos. “Stella McCartney is in around 5,000 doors worldwide – compared with about 16,000 for YSL – but it is in doors that appeal to its customers.
“Take Sephora in the US, for example. Compared with department stores, it is young and trendy. Since Stella was launched we have always been in its top 10, and more recently its top eight. So younger customers are driving us to think about different types of distribution.”
“Opium for Men and M7 are also small numbers. So we have to make a successful re-entry into the men’s arena, because we have been absent for too long.” |
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YSL will introduce a major new men’s fragrance in the second half of this year |
Roos enthuses: “We have a fabulous programme behind (Stella) because it’s a brand that can be really strong. Stella herself is young and famous in her own right. She is well known for her beliefs and is a big personality.
“We have a lot of plans I can’t yet reveal, but I’m sure you can imagine that we could do everything with Stella in the world of beauty, it’s just one of those brands. What I will say is it has the potential for cosmetics and even for skincare.”
MAN POWER
In addition to Stella, Roos will be focusing her attention on another important market segment this year – men.
“In the second half there will be a major men’s fragrance launch from Yves Saint Laurent,” she reveals. “With Cinéma we have worked hard on women, and indeed that’s where we have always been strongest.
“But now it is time to work on men, because we are still living on Kouros, which was launched 25 years ago.”
Given the way the sector is growing, does Roos also have designs on the men’s skincare market too? “That’s still a very small, marginal market,” she responds. “And unless you have real credibility in the men’s market, and also in skincare, there’s no point.
“You also have to invest a lot in such launches,” Roos continues. “For YSL, we have other things to do before we consider that. We have to really re-establish ourselves on the men’s [fragrance] market first, because frankly we are a little bit out of it”¦Kouros is still our number one men’s line for example, but in most countries you will not see it anywhere in the top 20.
“Opium for Men and M7 are also small numbers. So we have to make a successful re-entry into the men’s arena, because we have been absent for too long.”
Another area where YSL Beauté is conspicuous by its absence is the celebrity fragrance sector – although in this instance, it is by choice, not chance.
“Our goal with fragrance is to help perpetuate the name [of the designer] for as long as we can.” |
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The eye-catching ad visual for designer Alexander McQueen’s second feminine fragrance, called MyQueen |
“It is not something that we are considering,” says Roos firmly. “I am not excited by celebrity launches, to tell you the truth. Every time there’s a new one, the previous one is -65%. I look [at what’s out there], but it doesn’t influence me.” She shrugs: “Maybe it should.
“I applaud the way Chanel has revived No 5 with Nicole Kidman. It was well done, and sales were up +25% in the US last year. But they have always had famous faces, such as Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet or Vanessa Paradis. And it’s still Chanel No 5, not a Nicole Kidman fragrance, which is an important difference.”
She continues: “It frightens me that the celebrity would become more popular than the fragrance itself. And who knows whether such scents will last any longer than the celebrity’s career, which is often quite short nowadays.”
But Roos accepts that one size does not fit all. “Some people are doing [the celebrity thing] quite well,” she concedes. “They are not building a brand for ever, it’s all about the moment. It’s about promoting a product for now or next year, and then starting again with a new one. It is another way of doing fragrance.
“But we have such strong names: Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, even McQueen, and their goal is to remain in the world of fashion, to become a part of its history,” she explains. “Therefore our goal with fragrance is to help perpetuate the name for as long as we can, at the highest level of creativity. It is much more long-term. We want to create new classics.”
THE SKIN TRADE
Roos also wants to strengthen the group’s presence within skincare. “Today skincare represents about 10% of our total volume on Yves Saint Laurent,” she notes. “In Asia it’s much more and in certain countries it’s less – so this definitely has to grow.
 | Paris in the spotlight |
“Developing skincare takes longer than anything else, because you need a lot of R&D. [Since my return] we have created more specific products for Asian markets, and in the past two or three years we have started to address different skincare categories. We began with the basics, and now we are building with more advanced and specialised items.”
Selling skincare requires more time and effort relative to fragrance or make-up, and dedicated consultants are crucial. “It is so much easier when you have your own girls,” agrees Roos. “It can be really difficult to train people in a perfumery environment, versus a department store counter or even an airport”¦But everything with skincare takes time because you have to build regularly your credibility.”
“Developing skincare takes longer than anything else, because you need a lot of R&D. We began with the basics, and now we are building with more advanced and specialised items.” |
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Selling skincare well requires more time and effort relative to fragrance or make-up, and dedicated consultants are crucial |
She continues: “We know our priorities. It seems easy to say but for Yves Saint Laurent we must maintain the growth we have generated within make-up – which will also pull the skincare with it.
“We also have the ensure that the success of Cinéma continues, together with that of Opium, and to successfully introduce our new men’s fragrance. Basically, in addition to executing new launches, we have to try to maintain our classic lines too, which as I’ve already mentioned is complicated in the world of today.”
Looking ahead, what is likely to excite Roos this year, in terms of fellow supplier or retail developments?
“I see everything,” she laughs. “But [last year] I don’t think I was excited by anything.” However, Roos pays generous tribute to former Gucci Group colleague Tom Ford, poised to unveil his own beauty range, in conjunction with The Estée Lauder Companies, this spring (The Moodie Report.com, 12 April 2005).
“With Tom nothing surprises me; he is very talented,” she remarks. “He could do anything he wants to do. He has always had his own vision of everything”¦and what he has done in the past with Gucci is just spectacular.”
On the retail front, Roos singles out the revamp of Gatwick North, in addition to the opening of Heathrow’s new T5. “What is so great about travel retail is that the people are so dynamic,” she observes. “Before [intra-EU abolition], all they relied on was the tax free factor. Now that has changed, they are constantly exploring other options.
“It’s very exciting – much more so sometimes than the High Street. You can’t change things so easily there, but in an airport you can, and so there is regular improvement, particularly in the major locations.”
Roos concludes: “Travel retailers are constantly questioning themselves about how to improve their stores and better service the passengers. I like that very much.”
MORE STORIES ON YVES SAINT LAURENT BEAUTE
Yves Saint Laurent reveals new spring launches – 24/01/06
Yves Saint Laurent inaugurates new Asia flagship door – 07/11/05
Yves Saint Laurent unveils new designer fragrances – 11/10/05
