China focus: Latest developments from L’Oréal, Coty, Estée Lauder and more.

1 – Rituals lays down ‘ambitious’ growth plans for China travel retail market

Rituals has “ambitious” growth plans in place for China’s travel retail market,​ which it believes will be key to its business in the APAC region.

The brand unveiled three new shop-in-shops in Hainan, the epicentre of China’s travel retail market, just in time for the Lunar New Year festivities.

Melvin Broekaart, director for global travel retail, expressed confidence that Hainan will continue to be a key market, even when international travel recovers.

He revealed that the company was set to open a new warehouse in China in the middle of this year, as well as a Shanghai office down the line.

2 – L’Oréal on how luxury fragrance growth is being driven by ‘explosion’ of interest in China

L’Oréal Group has credited the boom in luxury fragrance to the growing appreciation among Chinese consumers and expects it to continue growing by double-digits in the years to come.

During the firm’s 2021 annual results conference, Cyril Chapuy, president of the L’Oréal Luxe division, highlighted that the firm’s luxury fragrance had achieved remarkable success in the past year.

Chapuy highlighted there were other fundamental reasons that explained the meteoric rise of the fragrance category, namely the “explosion”​ of the category in China.

He expressed his optimism for the category moving forward, noting it had the “perfect portfolio”​ of brands like Maison Margiela and Atelier Cologne, which are highly appreciated by the Chinese consumer.

3 – Coty China prestige beauty grows ‘six times faster’ than the market

Coty reports that the growth of its prestige beauty business in China is outstripping the market​, with the firm predicting that the luxury sector is ripe for future growth.

It recorded double-digit sales growth in China in the second quarter, driven by its growing presence in luxury make-up, skin care, travel retail, and the rising interest in fragrance.

Its strong performance in China drove its Asia Pacific business up by 16% to net revenues of U$196.2m in the second quarter. Overall, the region grew by 22% in the first half. 

CEO Sue Nabi highlighted that Gucci beauty had a particularly strong showing over the last quarter.

4 – Estée Lauder preparing to increase presence across all China retail channels

Estée Lauder Companies says it will be increasing its coverage across all channels in China​ this year to capitalise on the growth potential of its beauty market.

President, CEO and director of The Estée Lauder Companies Fabrizio Freda said that he remained “absolutely excited by the potential of China”.​

He noted that long-term trends, such as the rising middle class and increasing per capita send, all pointed towards growth for China’s beauty market.

“Online, travel retail, brick-and-mortar – we are improving in all these elements. We are increasing the number of cities where we have brick-and-mortar. We are increasing the coverage online,” ​said Freda

5 – Urban Decay enters travel retail channel in China amid animal testing changes

Urban Decay has made its first mark in China’s travel retail channel​, following previous launches on Tmall and in Sephora outlets, after being buoyed by changes to the animal testing regime.

The launch in travel retail channel adds to Urban Decay’s plans to expand into the offline channels in China.

Urban Decay retails in some Sephora stores in tier one and two cities, as well as has seasonal pop-up stores to create brand excitement and integrate online-to-offline (O+O) experience.

Previously, Urban Decay tried to launch in China but eventually backed out​ after conflicting animal testing policy called for the firm to have its products tested on animals.