For over a century, L’Oréal has carried out a single business: creating beauty. Cosmetics are rich in meaning. They allow each person to boost their self-confidence, express their personality and open up to others.
Focusing on a single business represents a major competitive advantage for L’Oréal in a dynamic, resilient market. The Group boasts more than one hundred years of cosmetic expertise, talented specialists and an in-depth knowledge of consumers. This is built on a detailed knowledge of beauty cultures, needs, desires and aspirations. L’Oréal covers all continents across more than 150 countries, all product categories (1) Hair colour, skincare, sun care, make-up, perfumes, hygiene products etc. all distribution channels including e‑commerce and Travel Retail, and all price segments.,
By focusing its energy on a single business, along with an obsession for “seizing the opportunities” (“Saisir ce qui commence” ), L’Oréal is able to identify new consumer trends and respond rapidly. The digital revolution in particular, in perfect alignment with “social beauty”, connected and shared, acts to speed up the development of the beauty market driven by economic, technological, demographic and sociological developments.
Innovation has been and remains the core of the L’Oréal model : the Group was born from a breakthrough innovation safe hair dye invented by its founder Eugène Schueller. L’Oréal believes that beauty happens when science and creativity come together to meet the needs of consumers who expect new experiences over and above products and services. The discoveries of R&I, as well as the unique intuition and creativity of the marketing teams, mean that products are constantly evolving to meet consumers’ needs. Because L’Oréal records a significant share of its sales with new products every year, the Group has a duty to be the champion of cosmetics innovation.
On the one hand, the beauty of the future is now focused on Green Sciences that reconcile efficiency, naturalness and sustainability to give the Group’s products, formulas or packaging a competitive advantage; and, on the other hand, on Beauty Tech to enhance science via cutting-edge technologies on a large scale and to offer unparalleled beauty experiences. Innovation is at the heart of the model and, coupled with technology, is a driving force for growth and discovery of new areas of beauty. Data, artificial intelligence, robotics and nanotechnologies will strengthen and speed up the Group’s innovations to help make it a champion of the Beauty Tech. L’Oréal also draws on some of the biggest strategic data partnerships, most notably with Verily, the health technology arm of the Alphabet Group, and Bakar Labs, the University of California Berkeley’s biotechnology incubator. L’Oréal invents the beauty of the future while becoming the company of the future.
Over the next decade, the cosmetics market will become more digital and competitive, with the arrival of new players from new markets and other industries such as fashion, luxury and e-commerce. In this context, L’Oréal’s expertise and excellence in creating and developing major brands that are prized by consumers all over the world will be essential assets. L’Oréal has always been able to create star products, from brand new franchise launches to innovations that evolve into “icons” over time. The skills of the marketing departments for our brands and laboratories are key assets in the collaborative, agile design of new products, services and customer experiences.
L’Oréal’s global footprint enables it to steer its growth by continuously adapting to the context it faces, seize opportunities as they arise and minimise exposure to areas where business is slower. In terms of regions, Europe has always been and remains the Group’s core region as well as its historic cradle. North America, currently the premier beauty market, is boosted by its demographics, the reinforcement of ethnic diversity and the ongoing acceleration of e-commerce. China is a major contributor to Group sales, with its consumers representing a significant source of growth for the long term. A major accelerator for the Group is the emerging markets, including the Latin America Zone, South-East Asia, India and the Middle East. With a population of three billion; these markets are young, connected and hungry for beauty products. L’Oréal continues to expand in Africa.
The Group’s four divisions enable it to meet all consumer expectations. The Group’s primary Division, Consumer Products, aims to give the best of beauty a more premium feel while also making it accessible to more people, and it is the Group’s main asset as it attempts to conquer the emerging markets; the Luxe Division responds to the desire for quality and experience in the upper-middle classes; the Dermatological Beauty Division(2) New name announced on 10 February 2023 (previously known as the Active Cosmetics Division). responds to increasingly high expectations in terms of skincare and sales have more than doubled in just three years; finally, the Professional Products Division enhances the sophistication of the market and the salon sector.
