Dazzling debut: L’Oréal touts Hainan as the ‘perfect venue’ to introduce J-beauty brand Takami

At the end of July, L’Oréal debuted two new brands at the 2022 Hainan Expo, Prada Fragrances and Takami. L’Oreal finalised the acquisition of the latter in February 2021, making it one of the newest brands under its portfolio.

The brand has enjoyed a cult appeal across Asia with its iconic Skin Peel Pre-Serum, also known as the Little Blue Bottle, especially in China.

Takami has an omnichannel distribution and is primarily available via e-commerce, most notably, through subscription models.

The brand is set to make its duty-free debut in 2023 on Hainan Island, the prime holiday destination in China.

Managing director of L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific Tao Zhang told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that Hainan was the ideal place to launch the brand.

“Hainan has become the go-to destination for Chinese beauty shoppers and is now known as one of the major travel retail destinations. Skin care is also one of the biggest beauty categories in Hainan, all of this makes it the perfect venue for us to launch Takami, our new blue jewel.”​

Furthermore, the brand’s major selling points are in line with what Chinese consumers are in the market for, Zhang added.

Among its many qualities, he noted that the brand is renowned for developing skin care that is tailored for Asian skin and having minimalist formulations, making it an attractive proposition for Chinese beauty consumers.

“We truly believe that Takami is the right skincare partner for discerning Chinese consumers looking for safe, clean, and effective skin care,” said Zhang.​

Hainan has played a very important role for L’Oréal’s brands in the past. For instance, luxury beauty brand Helena Rubinstein has been growing robustly thanks to the brand’s activations in Hainan.

The firm believes that the brand is well-positioned to become its next billion-dollar brand.

Aside from Takami and Prada Fragrance, Zhang hinted that the firm has more brands it plans on introducing into Hainan.

Hainan Island was one of the few tourist destinations in the world that got back in the swing of things early on, despite the outbreak of COVID-19. The boom was further amplified when the government increased non-taxable allowance from RMB30,000 to RMB100,000 (U$15,000).

Hainan quickly became the lightning rod for luxury brands, several of whom made it a priority to lessen the blow to their travel retail businesses.

Even with international travel picking up, Hainan will continue to be an important market for beauty brands like L’Oréal.

Zhang said: “We have over a decade of expertise in the China and Hainan travel retail channel, and we are in a very positive position to continually capture growth in Hainan.”​