Skin care and Asia-Pacific driving travel retail growth for Estée Lauder

The New York-based company’s travel retail sales topped one billion dollars for the first time in December last year and sales have grown so fast that business in this channel has doubled.

Travel retail booming​

Estée Lauder has posted compound annual sales growth of 16 percent over the last five years, with 2012 posting the most impressive figures, and this has seen the company hit many milestones in the sector.

“We became number one in travel retail in Asia-Pacific and in prestige globally,”​ explains Fabrizio Freda, company president and CEO.

“With 1600 locations worldwide, travel retail has reinforced our brand equity and sales trends have played to our strengths, since the biggest growth is coming from skin care and from Asian travellers.”​

Currently, worldwide travellers take over one billion business trips every year, and Freda expects this figure to climb four percent in the next fiscal year.

Skin care key for APAC​

Asia-Pacific has already become one of the key markets for Estée Lauder, with skin care one of the focal points, with the segment making up more than a fifth of total sales generated in the region.

Asia-Pacific has been growing at double digit rates for Estée Lauder in the last six years, and skin care goes down particularly well in this region.

 “Skin care is our largest and most profitable category overall – accounting for 43 percent of our sales. In Asia-Pacific it is even more important – accounting for more than 60 percent of sales in this region,”​ Freda said.

In fiscal 2012, sales for Estée Lauder in Asia-Pacific exceeded $2 billion for the first time ever; driven by a strong performance in the skin care segment which led the growth with sales up 16 percent, and accounts for the largest market share.