Jerôsse was founded five years ago by Kevin Lu. Today, the company is best known in the market for its range of health foods and supplements, which account for the lion’s share of the company’s revenue.
This comes on the heels of the firm’s first foray overseas, starting with Singapore and Malaysia.
Lu, who claims to have two decades of experience in the skin care industry, told us that the company was eyeing opportunities in the area of sensitive skin. One of its most recent launches was a hyaluronic acid sheet mask that was developed for those who suffer from such concerns.
The company is focusing its research and development on this area as more people are developing sensitive skin as a result of bad lifestyle habits as well as external environmental aggressors.
Lu revealed that the firm is set to expand its sensitive skin care range with the launch of an acne care product later this year.
In addition, the company will also be launching a sun care product. The development of the product was spurred by its expansion into the tropical South East Asian region.
Moving forward, the company will expand into the hair care category. It is currently developing a product for hair loss, which is an increasingly common problem in postpartum women, said Lu.
With his experience in the skin care industry, Lu said he understood better than most how competitive the market is, which is why he held back on developing that side of the business.
“If you go to any department store, the first level is full of big international brands. On the other hand, there is often no big department just for health foods and supplements. While I’ve been working in skin care for much longer, I knew it would be very difficult to compete – almost impossible.
“Today, Jerôsse has established itself with its health food and supplement products with a steady base of followers. Now that we have earned the trust of our followers, its much easier for us to sell them skin care.”
Firm’s SEA expansion
Lu expressed his excitement about expanding into SEA, where there is a large population of ethnic Chinese.
“A large market of Chinese-speaker people is convenient for us. Also, they are familiar with Taiwan and see Taiwanese-made products as high-quality products. And they will definitely know our brand ambassador Ruby Lin, I think she is someone no Chinese will fail to recognise.”
Ruby Lin is a Taiwanese actress and producer best known for her leading role in the 1998 television series phenomenon My Fair Princess. Lin is still one of the top stars in Chinese entertainment today.
Engaging a star like Lin is part of the company’s aggressive marketing strategies. The company has an advertising budget of around SGD200,000 (USD150,000), which it spends on television commercials, bus advertisements, and other traditional ad mediums.
However, because the company sells exclusively through a micro-distributorship model, Lu said it was able to stretch its advertising dollar with the help of its many distributors, which mostly help market the company through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
With its expansion into Singapore and Malaysia, Lu said the firm will look to allocate a marketing budget to accelerate its brand awareness.