Clarins sees sales boom in Asia

This part of the world now accounts for only 18 per cent of Clarins’s total business.
Clarins Group’s strategy is to make the company more global and put its emphasis on Asia, where consumers consider skincare a major step to beauty.
Clarins was a pioneer of skincare products with natural extracts as key ingredients. Combining its expertise with Asia’s heritage of traditional natural extracts will make the brand even more interesting, Shearer said.
Founded in 1954, Clarins is now a midsize company and the fourth leading purveyor of skincare products in the world. In Europe, it is No 1. The group achieved about ?2 billion euros (Bt80.5 billion) in turnover last year.
The world has been transformed over the past 20 years, as most economic developments are from this part of the world.
 Europe is now facing a major recession, while the US market remains strong and Latin America is growing in potential, particularly Brazil.
“Europe today is flat to down in our product segment,” Shearer said.
“We emphasise ourselves on Asia. We need to understand the basic needs of Asian consumers and create the products that they want. We need to create skincare products that are specific to this part of the world,” he said.
Skincare products like Clarins Double Serum and Shaping Facial Lift were developed with Asian consumers in mind. Clarins had conducted intensive consumer research in various parts of Asia to offer unique products, especially for whitening.
However, it was too early to add a skincare plant in Asia to its current facilities in France.
“We want to make sure that we can control everything we do. If we do have a plant in Asia one day, we will do it ourselves,” he said.
The market here is small but its potential is quite big, thanks to a large population and strong economic fundamentals. The company intends to be here and do business for the long run.
Clarins is now sixth in the Thai skincare market, but aims to become the top player in five or six years.
The purchasing power of Thai consumers is improving and they are trading up to more premium skincare brands.
The company has learned many things from Thailand, such as consumer behaviour and distribution, and applied the insights to other emerging markets, especially in Southeast Asia, Shearer said.