In 2019, the home and body cosmetics company invested in a warehouse facility and office in Hong Kong to support the company’s expansion plans across all channels in Asia – including travel retail, domestic and e-commerce.
This was shortly followed by the opening of Rituals’ first Asia standalone store in Hong Kong.
The brand furthered expanded in Hong Kong and now has two downtown duty-free shop-in-shops in Hong Kong and three downtown duty-free shop-in-shops in Macau.
Its presence in the travel retail channel also extends to South Korea, where it is through online and offline locations with Lotte Duty-Free and The Shilla Duty-Free.
Rituals in China
In China, Rituals sells its products via cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) through platforms Tmall, WeChat and Little Red Book.
Recently, the brand marked the first anniversary of its debut in China and announced Chinese singer and actress Wang Feifei as its first celebrity brand ambassador for Greater China. She is best known as a member of South Korean K-Pop band Miss A.
Chief Marketing Officer Lucas van Eeghen said, “We are very honoured to invite Wang Feifei as the brand ambassador of Rituals Greater China. We believe that together we are able to showcase the Rituals mindset of slowing down and finding the luxury in your daily rituals while aiming to inspire you as well as make you feel good.”
The appointment of a local ambassador signals the brand’s commitment to building brand awareness with the Chinese consumer and expanding its visibility in the market.
“As we approach our first anniversary in China, we are extremely happy with our performance in the last year. From our first celebrity ambassador to our first Single’s Day, we are very excited to be able to operate successfully on a cross-border set-up,” said Neil Ebbutt, director of travel retail.
Ebbutt told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that the company sees China as a major growth driver for the brand in the APAC region.
“We do believe that China could potentially help us accelerate our growth in the Asia Pacific region, from e-commerce to the travel retail business.”
Ebbutt said the company will be focusing its efforts in China’s cross-border channel to drive business.
“In the last year, we have launched three marketplaces on Tmall, WeChat and Little Red Book. Our ambition in the next year is to have a strong focus on optimising our performance on these channels.”
However, he added that the company would be on the lookout for new opportunities in the market, especially in the brick-and-mortar channel.
“It is our hope that in the future, we will be able to operate domestically in China which would allow us to have a local retail presence.”
Redefining daily rituals
In the coming year, the company intends to focus on several themes to promote the Ritual’s aim to promote the art of soulful living.
“We plan to have a big focus on the strength of natural body care, the importance of good sleep and the power of home fragrances to transform a house into a home,” said Ebbutt.
The brand’s latest campaign with Wang promotes the brand’s private collection series of home fragrances and The Ritual of Jing collection of products with sleep-enhancing ingredients and fragrances.
“We aim to listen more to the consumer and hope to be able to meet their needs to reach the brand’s best potential in China. We believe this is anchored to the art of soulful living – a holistic approach to living well – which is a lifestyle we aim to translate in our brand,” said Ebbutt.
