The Singapore-based company announced that the acquisition of Pacific SMM will be completed this month, and revealed that it will be renaming it to Luxasia Oceania Pty Ltd.
Mutual admiration
Sabrina Chong, Head of Corporate Development at Luxasia, told Cosmetics Design Asia that one of key factors driving the investment decision was the Pacific SMM team itself.
“Nicholas Gorick and Pam Wilson are entrepreneurial beauty veterans who have a strong passion to create new experiences and bring new brands to Australia and New Zealand.”
Nicholas Gorick, Managing Director, Pacific SMM, returned the compliment, adding: “We have great admiration for the Luxasia team’s consumer-centric approach in brand distribution, having worked closely with them for several years across numerous brands,”
“Leveraging our collective strengths, we are confident that Luxasia Oceania will be a dominant force in ANZ’s beauty industry.”
APAC domination
By acquiring the majority stake in Pacific SMM, Luxasia has expanded its regional presence to 14 countries, keeping in line with the company’s strategic plan to transform the beauty landscape in Asia Pacific.
As a newly established company, Luxasia Oceania aims to build on Pacific SMM’s strong foundation of experienced team members, innovative retail concepts, e-commerce best practices, as well as an efficient back-office and supply chain management.
Pam Wilson, Marketing Director of Pacific SMM, added: “This is the first Asia Pacific distribution structure that brands can tap into with the security of deep local market intelligence in each region.”
“We are excited by the immense potential of our partnership, given that Australia and New Zealand are mature beauty markets,” said Wolfgang Baier, Group CEO, Luxasia.
“By combining Pacific SMM’s extensive market knowledge in ANZ with Luxasia’s end-to-end brand distribution and channel management competencies, Luxasia is well-poised to bring its repertoire of beauty brands to the ANZ market speedily and successfully,” he added.
Grand plans
Luxasia added that it was currently in discussions with a number of existing brand partners on the possibilities of expanding distribution reach into the ANZ region.
Meanwhile, the firm indicated that it would continue to explore opportunities with its ANZ channel partners to deepen their reach in the market strategically.
The company added that it hoped to bring the many cult and niche luxury brands in its portfolio to ANZ.
Given the popularity of natural and organic trends in the ANZ region, Luxasia may also look distribute the more natural brands in its portfolio such as Yves Rocher, THREE, and Bjork & Berries.
Luxasia would not, however, confirm plans to bring its hugely popular escentials retail brand to the ANZ region. “While everything is a possibility now, we need to gain better market knowledge and assess receptivity before making such a landmark decision.”
