Jala president says secret is to be as close as possible to China’s consumers

In recent years there has been a distinct shift in the spending patterns of China’s beauty consumers, as more and more individuals are attracted to the growing offerings from domestic players.

“I believe that the main reason for this shift is that domestic beauty and personal care are simply closer to the consumer because they have a better recognition of exactly what they want to see in a product,”​ said Jala Group's executive president Dr. Yuliang Liu.

“We are now closing the gap on international players in terms of branding, packaging design, formulation and overall product quality, and proof of this is in our continued sales growth.”​

Aiming for a top three position​

Liu was at the PCHi event both to pace the floor and discover the latest trends in formulation, as well as to network, with back-to-back meetings that included interviews with journalists.

Speaking at a small conference for international press, Liu explained how the company has grown in to one of the biggest players in the country by being very focused – specifically by focusing just on the China market and skin care.

“Ultimately we are aiming to be one of the top three players in the market and we aim to achieve this by maintaining a strong innovation pipeline through continued investment in research and development,”​ he said

Store openings drive growth​

Most recently its plans to grow the business have also included the roll out of Jala stores in key cities, a move that aims to increase the visibility and branding of the business.

And the move has proved to be successful, with consumers in the country responding well to the stores, prompting the company to have plan for the opening of more stores in the near future.

But Liu also points out that the store rollouts are likely to remain limited due to the fact that the openings are logistically complex and once open the stores themselves need significant management and staff resources to maintain the momentum.

Beyond the store rollouts, Liu believes that the future of the business is also likely to be mapped out by diversification into new categories.

“We are already well established in the skin care category, but as emerging beauty markets evolve, consumers tend to start developing more of an interest in new areas. In line with this we will be looking to first expand into colour cosmetics, and probably fragrances after that.”​