With €41.18 billion in net sales and more than 94,600 employees in 2023, L’Oréal is the worldwide leader in beauty.
Because the beauty market is a growing market with a focus on the future, the Group is, now more than ever, in a position to seize all opportunities, strengthen its leadership and ensure tomorrow’s success. Building on a long-term vision, with a clear strategy, L’Oréal continues its development by relying on its fundamental assets and transforming itself to respond to the new aspirations of consumers, employees and society, to become the company of the future.
Through its L’Oréal for the Future programme, L’Oréal has set itself a number of ambitious targets in its efforts to combat climate change: in terms of reducing its CO2 emissions to reach 100% renewable energy(1)On the Group’s operated sites, excluding safety and security installations as defined in paragraph 4.5.1.3. Environmental data. for its operated sites, in terms of the use and recycling of water in its industrial processes and in terms of its product design (formulation and packaging) through biosourcing and the circular economy.
On the social front, L’Oréal works to make sure that its strategic suppliers pay their administrative staff a decent living wage and adopts policies to help people from disadvantaged communities to access employment. The Group has also committed, on the one hand, to supporting women in vulnerable situations with a charitable endowment fund of €50 million, and secondly, to investing €100 million in two investment funds dedicated to the circular economy and the regeneration of ecosystems, as well as €15 million via the L’Oréal Climate Emergency Fund to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities in the face of climate disasters. In 2022, L’Oréal co founded the EcoBeautyScore Consortium, with more than fifty players from the beauty sector, to set up a scheme to indicate the environmental impact of cosmetic products so that consumers can make more sustainable choices.
The transformation of our formulations towards the Green Sciences is at the heart of the beauty of the future. This new frontier of research, which combines biotechnology with new agronomic and cultivation techniques, is making it possible for L’Oréal to expand its portfolio of raw materials and to develop ingredients with a favourable environmental profile to break free from petrochemicals. This programme aims to minimise the environmental impacts associated with the cultivation of the plants these ingredients are sourced from, so as to rely on eco friendly transformation procedures. This transition will provide consumers with performance, safety and sustainability, and L’Oréal with a new competitive advantage. These aspects are set out in subsection 1.3.7.
Technology is the future of beauty because of the phenomenal breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology etc., which make it possible to expand L’Oréal’s offering, satisfy all consumer expectations and offer an experience that goes beyond products.
L’Oréal, which is already a digital first company, decided to be the pioneer, champion and leader of Beauty Tech in all its areas of application. By building up state of-the-art, secure IT, its leadership in Beauty Tech and its expertise in artificial intelligence and data will enable L’Oréal to be a data driven company for all its activities and functions. The ongoing transformation of Operations towards greater agility is integral to the Group’s ambition to become a world leader in Beauty Tech.
Digital technology is fully integrated in the business, in all brands, jobs and countries. It is based on a solid network of over 5,900 digital experts, almost 67,500 trained employees and a wealth of in house know how. Digital has boosted L’Oréal’s strengths tenfold and represents a booster of opportunities and growth. It enhances the power of brands and products, enriches the connection with consumers and creates experiences, new services and personalisation.
E-commerce is an additional source of business, and a growth accelerator because it means we can reach new consumers wherever there is no existing distribution network. The proportion of the Group’s sales represented by e commerce multiplied by nearly six between 2015 and 2023 (5% to 27%(2))Net sales achieved on our brands’ websites and with e-commerce pure players + estimated net sales achieved by our brands corresponding to sales through our retailers’ websites (non-audited data)., with growth in all Zones and Divisions. L’Oréal aims to increase its e-commerce business to reach up to 50% of its sales. This means strengthening its industrial flexibility, adapting its supply chain in an “omnichannel” approach and redesigning the downstream value chain immediately.
Beauty Tech will ensure that beauty for all evolves into beauty for each. To achieve this, L’Oréal has a unique strength: being the only company that can combine more than 110 years of scientific beauty expertise and knowledge of our consumers with cutting-edge digital excellence.
All across the globe, the working world has undergone profound changes as a result of the Covid 19 health crisis, particularly with remote working becoming more widespread, a phenomenon that employees now want in their everyday lives, as well as a key factor in the appeal of an employer. In this new “hybrid” working environment, L’Oréal has opted for balanced and flexible solutions between on site and remote working to preserve and promote opportunities for exchange, cooperation and creativity. Since 2016, L’Oréal has rolled out the Simplicity programme, renewed in early 2023 (Simplicity 2), the aim of which is to transform ways of working to meet new expectations on the part of employees (fulfilment, dialogue, cross functionality) while adapting to the performance requirements of a constantly changing world and also enabling them to devote time to what matters most.
