Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Nicola Ionimus, thank you so much for joining us on Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: When you look at the trends from now until the
Speaker 2: end of the year, what are you most excited about.
Speaker 2: I know you've worked on innovation. The economy is what
Speaker 2: it is. Do people buy beauty differently?
Speaker 3: Well, I think people buy beauty.
Speaker 1: Which is the most important thing for me is that
Speaker 1: beauty is a very dynamic category and it shows once
Speaker 1: again it's resilience in times of trouble, and we call
Speaker 1: it whether you call it the lipstick effect or the
Speaker 1: dopamine effect of beauty. The market's growing, It has accelerated
Speaker 1: a bit in Q two, and people are going for
Speaker 1: new or innovation for quality. And that's probably the reason
Speaker 1: behind our great first half at plus six point five percent,
Speaker 1: way above the market growth, is that we brought a
Speaker 1: lot of innovation and of superior quality into the market.
Speaker 2: Is there a section of the market because you really
Speaker 2: expects to, you know, some of the very high end
Speaker 2: brands and some of the more mass market. Is there
Speaker 2: a section of those that actually doing better than expected?
Speaker 1: Well, the overalls what's great this year is that and
Speaker 1: that's probably the strength of our portfolio. The breadth of
Speaker 1: our portfolio, which goes from products at four or five
Speaker 1: euros to product at three hundred, is that all our
Speaker 1: divisions and brands are contributing. If I look at the
Speaker 1: top four brands that are contributing to my growth, you
Speaker 1: have Lorel Paris, you have Cari Stars, you have Lauge
Speaker 1: pos a luxury brand, a dumb brand, a mass market brand,
Speaker 1: and a professional brand. And that shows that you have
Speaker 1: to have beauty for everyone. Now, if we look at
Speaker 1: the categories or the or the type of products that
Speaker 1: are flying the most, you've got two categories that are really.
Speaker 3: Driving the growth is headcare and fragrance.
Speaker 1: And as far as market is concerned, you continue to
Speaker 1: see the metaological beauty extremely dynamic because people want safe
Speaker 1: and efficacious product, which is what we provide with brands
Speaker 1: like Larageposeo Survey, which are doing phenomenon in the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year.
Speaker 2: Is there anything actually underlying that is boosting that growth.
Speaker 2: I know we talk a lot about GLP one's whether
Speaker 2: that changes our tastes, whether that changes our hair, or
Speaker 2: is it something more fundamental about beauty because of advertisement
Speaker 2: or influencers.
Speaker 1: Well, I think you know, beauty has always been a
Speaker 1: quest and everybody is trying to find their own their
Speaker 1: own ways. And as far as hair care is concerned,
Speaker 1: for example, you've got several driving forces. One you mentioned,
Speaker 1: it's not the major one, but it's an important one
Speaker 1: is the GLP one effect, which has both an impact
Speaker 1: on people wanting to buy products that protect the hair
Speaker 1: or help the hair regrow because they have some he
Speaker 1: lossis or some experience this. You also have a boom
Speaker 1: in skin care products that provide a firmness. By the way,
Speaker 1: we are launching right now new products on kills that's
Speaker 1: called color Shot that's particular clearly designed for GLP one users.
Speaker 1: But there's a much bigger underlying trend on hair care
Speaker 1: is that hair is longer and more diverse, which means
Speaker 1: that people need more care, more detangling products, and better
Speaker 1: products in general. That's why there's a boom in professional
Speaker 1: haircare products, which are growing even faster than the category.
Speaker 1: So it's part of demographics and in your right, there
Speaker 1: are trends such as GLP one which are impacting consumers habits.
Speaker 1: The good thing for us is that people under GLP
Speaker 1: one by more beauty than before, so that's great.
Speaker 2: Do your customers spend differently in the US than they
Speaker 2: do in Europe than they do in.
Speaker 3: Asia, Well, the markets are different.
Speaker 1: Asia is a skin care markets and the good thing
Speaker 1: about Asia is that it confirms that China is back
Speaker 1: to positive territory and it's driven by luxury. So there's
Speaker 1: I would say a stronger apbit right now for premium
Speaker 1: in China and a lot relocks division is that at
Speaker 1: plus ten after six months in China, which is very positive.
Speaker 3: So China is more about skincare.
Speaker 1: The US has always been a very strong makeup market
Speaker 1: and remain so. But it's true there's been really an
Speaker 1: acceleration of haircare a lot in the US. Overall consumption
Speaker 1: is pretty good in the US. Consumers are pretty resilient,
Speaker 1: and then we see all around the world, you know,
Speaker 1: the need for better skin care for UV protection, and
Speaker 1: that's also an area where some of our brand thrive,
Speaker 1: which is long service in some care, which is doing
Speaker 1: great too. So in the end, I think the the
Speaker 1: I know you're trying to find differences, but there's an
Speaker 1: over arching trends that people want duty and want innovation,
Speaker 1: and you know, one of the things we've done at
Speaker 1: Loreal is that we've more than doubled the weight of
Speaker 1: innovation in our business between this first half and last
Speaker 1: year's first half, which is also why we are gaining
Speaker 1: market because consumers are constantly tempted by new ideas, new
Speaker 1: products and your right to mention influencers that play a
Speaker 1: very important role in bringing these uh, these new products
Speaker 1: to life on techtalk or other channels, and it's and
Speaker 1: you have to be in that game and to be
Speaker 1: providing very exciting new products. And that's that's true all
Speaker 1: across the world, whether Asia and North America or even
Speaker 1: the Middle East.
Speaker 2: So how much does that innovation actually achieved through AI
Speaker 2: and is it through selling or is it actually some
Speaker 2: of the textures that you find which is helped by
Speaker 2: AI in research and development.
Speaker 1: Well, what AI allows us to do is really to
Speaker 1: accelerate the pace of innovation. You know, sometimes I say
Speaker 1: that AI is accelerated innovation because it allows my researchers
Speaker 1: to to really the divide by for the time to
Speaker 1: bring to market a new molecule with more than double
Speaker 1: the number of molecules we can we can you know,
Speaker 1: scan to find to find new products.
Speaker 3: So it's it's really that allows us.
Speaker 1: We have many brands, we have forty brands, so we
Speaker 1: need to have somehow an R and D on steroids
Speaker 1: and that's what.
Speaker 3: AI allows us to do.
Speaker 1: We still have to know how the data, but AI
Speaker 1: is what really allows us to go faster in terms
Speaker 1: of discoveries.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, a good set of results. But there
Speaker 2: is a lot of pressure economically and on geopolitics. What's
Speaker 2: the hardest thing that you have to navigate, either in
Speaker 2: terms of tariffs, inflation or trade in general.
Speaker 1: Well, it's what's clear is that you have to be
Speaker 1: a gild and you have to be able to adapt,
Speaker 1: whether it's it's on tariffs, whether it's the price of
Speaker 1: oil which has an impact on the customer transportation, whether
Speaker 1: indeed it's the impact of the crisis in the Middle
Speaker 1: East on consumer behaviors as it relates to travel, retail
Speaker 1: for example.
Speaker 3: So it's it's a lot about agility.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, currencies also have an impact, and
Speaker 1: we are happy for Lorel that the dollar is a
Speaker 1: bit better.
Speaker 3: Than it wished to be.
Speaker 1: So in the end, it's about seizing the ascending trends
Speaker 1: and trying to leverage what I think is unique at
Speaker 1: Lorel is the fact that we are very spread.
Speaker 3: We call that multipole a model.
Speaker 1: We are spread across regions and across price points and divisions.
Speaker 1: So whatever something is struggling a bit, we can bounce
Speaker 1: back in another area. And if I take this first half,
Speaker 1: Middle East was below expectations, even though not as much
Speaker 1: as with what it feared. But the fact that China,
Speaker 1: luxury in China is more positive kind of offsets it.
Speaker 1: So that that's how we navigate. And in the end,
Speaker 1: you know, going back to what I was saying earlier,
Speaker 1: I really see it's not that I feel I can
Speaker 1: observe that when the world's getting tough for people are
Speaker 1: really more inclined to indulge in pleasurable beauty products. There
Speaker 1: are people that want more indulgence others that want more
Speaker 1: health related products, and we have both.
Speaker 3: So that's how we navigate this crazy world.
Speaker 2: What's actually been the most surprising thing for you? Is
Speaker 2: it the way you know, is it the way that
Speaker 2: people are interested in perfume or how it tastes change,
Speaker 2: or is it that they're quite resilient given everything that
Speaker 2: we're saying on the economy.
Speaker 1: Well, as mentioned the one thing that has surprised me
Speaker 1: the most of the last year is the appetite for
Speaker 1: sophisticated hair care.
Speaker 3: You know, our professional.
Speaker 1: Division, which is is the smallest but was not the
Speaker 1: one that used to be the fastest growing, has been
Speaker 1: growing the fastest now for two years. And it's really
Speaker 1: driven by this number of consumers craving for deep treatments
Speaker 1: for their hair and high quality. Now there are lots
Speaker 1: of other surprising factors. A little anecdote which I read
Speaker 1: and I don't totally know whether it's true, but some
Speaker 1: people are saying that there's an increase in consumption of
Speaker 1: sweet fragrances because people who are on GLP one are
Speaker 1: deprived of sugar, so they like to buy, whether it's
Speaker 1: a bodycare or fragrances that are sweeter. And it's true
Speaker 1: that we have you know, we've launched a ysleve or
Speaker 1: very crush and our lavier bed vanilla and both are
Speaker 1: stundying successes. So it's possible that people that are deprived
Speaker 1: of sugar by their you know, desire to lose weight
Speaker 1: are buying more sweet fragrances.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's calories. I guess in perfume you have been
Speaker 2: very acquisitive over the last couple of years. Is there
Speaker 2: anything else that you want in the next six months
Speaker 2: or twelve months.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I'd like to celebrate what we've acquired.
Speaker 1: First of all, what we've acquired last year. If I
Speaker 1: take a brand like Esop with eighteen months of it's
Speaker 1: going double digits. We are just in the beginning of
Speaker 1: rolling out Doctor g. You know, there's a Korean beauty
Speaker 1: trend and our Doctor GI's the number one skin care
Speaker 1: O bran Korea, so we're rolling it out.
Speaker 3: And which just made two big announcements.
Speaker 1: One is the anticipation by one year of the Gucci license,
Speaker 1: so it's a negotiation between carrying and COT but it
Speaker 1: means that we'll start selling Gucchip products from the first
Speaker 1: of July twenty seven, so it's very positive for our
Speaker 1: future growth.
Speaker 3: And we've just made this acquisition of.
Speaker 1: Innovist in India, which is both two brands and an
Speaker 1: e commerce platform. And one of the other factors that
Speaker 1: drives our growth is our e commerce domination. We are
Speaker 1: growing at plus eighteen on an e commerce so twice
Speaker 1: the market and in Novicet is going to be I
Speaker 1: think a great accelerator for US in India, which remains
Speaker 1: a small country for US in terms of weight of business,
Speaker 1: which which is really accelerating right now. So these two
Speaker 1: acquisitions are already to be confirmed or to be closed
Speaker 1: if I may, and that as far as the future,
Speaker 1: we'll see.
Speaker 3: As always we look at all opportunities.
Speaker 1: But I would say that we were beginning to have
Speaker 1: a pretty complete portfolio and a lot to do with it.
Speaker 2: In India, I know there's there was a huge growth
Speaker 2: actually for some of the local brands because the Indian
Speaker 2: market liked to buy Indian. Do you think that's changing.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we have strong positions for some of
Speaker 1: our brands in India, but overall it was a small
Speaker 1: market for US and UH, and we've really accelerated with
Speaker 1: a combination of international brands. But I would say that
Speaker 1: have been more localized culturally in terms of advertising, in
Speaker 1: terms of the beauty rituals we promote closer to the
Speaker 1: Indian UH with the original recipes and and we're adding
Speaker 1: this local acquisition and you know, we're India has made
Speaker 1: it to the top eight of our goals contributing country
Speaker 1: country in the first half. We're growing at plus twenty
Speaker 1: in sellout in the market at plus ten, so it
Speaker 1: shows that and that's without innovists which will be part
Speaker 1: of Loreale only from QW three. So it means that
Speaker 1: with the right adaptation of our products, we can win
Speaker 1: in India.
Speaker 3: But it's still a lot to do. It's one of
Speaker 3: the countries where we have the lowest.
Speaker 1: Share, so I'm not happy yet, but I'm excited about
Speaker 1: the future prospects.
Speaker 2: Nicolai Eronymis, thank you so much for joining us.