China focus: Latest developments in China’s booming beauty market

Estée Lauder highlights significance of travel retail despite gloomy results in Asia​​

Estée Lauder’s chief has emphasised the importance of travel retail to its global beauty business despite the rebound lag in Asia that has forced it to lower its full-year sales forecast.

Cosmetics major Estée Lauder Companies is anticipating annual net sales to fall 10% to 12% as recovery in Asia’s travel retail market remains sluggish.

L’Oréal on Aesop: ‘Huge prospective growth’ in Asia led by China​

L’Oréal’s CEO has expressed excitement over the prospect of acquiring Australian luxury brand Aesop, which he believes holds tremendous potential in Asia, and in particular, China.

CEO Nicolas Hieronimus, said Aēsop was in line with the current trends in the beauty and personal care market, as evident in its performance.

He said the firm could help Aēsop “unleash its massive growth potential, notably in China and travel retail.”​

Nivea’s China premiumisation strategy yielding success in face and body care​​​

German personal care brand Nivea’s premiumisation efforts has helped to increase the average selling prices of its face and body care portfolio.

Despite the challenging market conditions in China cause by the COVID-19 restrictions, Nivea managed to grow its business thanks to its premiumisation strategy both online and offline.

The company’s attempts to premiumise its portfolio helped to increase the average selling price of its facial care products.

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SK-II performance hampered by sluggishness in travel retail – P&G​​

The lack of Chinese shoppers in travel retail has hit the growth of luxury skin care brand SK-II, says Procter & Gamble (P&G).

CFO Andre Schulten said that the brand had not observed a rebound from the increased traffic of Chinese travellers specifically.

“We're not yet seeing is any return of Chinese consumers to travel retail. That is a significant negative for us in the SK-II business specifically.​ Hopefully, we see a more positive trend there in the near future.​

La Prairie sales slump by 12% with China’s zero-COVID policies – Beiersdorf​

Beiersdorf’s luxury brand La Prairie saw sales hampered in the first quarter (Q1) due to challenging market conditions in China caused by ongoing COVID-19 pain points.

La Prairie sales fell by 12% in the first quarter ending March 2023 during its earnings conference on April 26.

“With our La Prairie business, we faced a challenging start to the year due to the low traffic in China after the change in COVID policies by the end of 2022,”​ said Beiersdorf CEO Vincent Warnery.