L’Oréal reported on April 19 that it gained $9.82 billion with rise of 19% year on year. With double-digit growth in mainland China, L’Oréal continued to outperform the beauty market thanks to successful campaigns for Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Women’s Day. The Group further strengthened its lead in the country, gaining market share online and offline. In Hainan, L’Oréal outperformed the Travel Retail market, which remained very dynamic.
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On April 19, local time, L’Oréal released financial data for the first quarter of 2022. The data showed that L’Oréal Group sales in the first quarter were $9.82 billion, reporting 13.9% at constant exchange rates and 19.0% based on reported figures. The group’s performance significantly outperformed the market.
By segment, all L’Oréal divisions achieved growth in the first quarter.
The high-end beauty division reported sales of $3.58 billion, up 25.1% year-on-year. Luxe couture brands YSL, Armani Beauty, Prada and Valentino grew significantly faster than the market while Lancôme consolidated its leading position in mainland China and its top three position in the Western world. In the fragrance segment, collections such as Maison Margiela Replica and Armani Privé grew rapidly. The cosmetics business of Shu Uemura and Urban Decay grew strongly.
The Professional Products Division reported sales of $1.13 billion, up 22.7% year-over-year. The division performed well in the U.S., Germany, India and mainland China, where e-commerce sales grew sharply.
Haircare remained the main growth driver, largely thanks to Serie Expert by L’Oréal Professionnel and Prescriptions by Redken. Kérastase continued its impressive upward trend, with the successful launch of Chroma Absolu one of the main highlights.
The Consumer Products Division segment reported sales of $3.58 billion, up 11.1% year-over-year. Notably, the division’s sales in North Asia were slowed by the impact of some e-commerce businesses in mainland China. The main brands driving growth were L’Oréal Paris’ hair care segment, Garnier, Maybelline New York and makeup brand NYX.
The Active Products Division segment reported sales of $1.36 billion, up 22.4% year-over-year. Among them, the continued sales success of products under the La Roche Posay and Vyse’s scalp care line Dercos and sunscreen products drove its sales to steady growth.
In addition, L’Oréal’s sales in all regions continued to grow. With double-digit growth in mainland China, L’Oréal continued to outperform the beauty market thanks to successful campaigns for Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Women’s Day. The Group further strengthened its lead in the country, gaining market share online and offline. In Hainan, L’Oréal outperformed the Travel Retail market, which remained very dynamic.
In terms of channels, on the one hand, offline sales recovered significantly, while on the other hand, e-commerce sales continued to grow, accounting for 25.8% of sales.
According to L’Oréal Paris’ annual report released at the beginning of 2022, it is vigorously developing the combination of online and offline channels in 2021.
The new L’Oréal Paris flagship store in Shanghai, invite consumers to enjoy immersive high-tech experiences. The fully revamped Shanghai store attracts not only loyal customers but also the new, ultra-connected younger generations who particularly appreciate experiences that combine virtual and real-life aspects. Inside, they are offered a unique opportunity to dive into the world of L’Oréal Paris via livestreams filmed in stores and hosted by beauty advisors, along with interactive screens and mirrors, video games, in-store gifts and discount offers through social networks, digital skin “diagnosis” by ModiFace, and more. The level of digital interaction available at the Shanghai store is just one example of the wide range of innovations the brands have developed. They produce content at a studio specially designed for omnichannel creations and share them with consumers via online stores such as WeMall, which are linked to brick-and-mortar shops. Social network WeChat, with its inherent ability to spread attractive, easily shareable content, has become the most popular point of contact with consumers.
L’Oréal also adheres to innovation and technology as its main growth driving. In 2021, L’Oréal used Beauty Tech to connect the world of beauty to the world of technology and kept pace with innovations: firstly, by perfecting its new services, like skin “diagnosis”, personalization, virtual try-ons, livestreaming and social commerce, to provide unrivaled beauty experiences; secondly, by investing in new technologies to invent disruptive solutions which will underpin the new services of tomorrow.
L’Oréal said it remains optimistic about the outlook for the beauty market, taking into account volatility and uncertainty, and is confident of outperforming the market and achieving further sales and profit growth in 2022.
