The cost of greater visibility in Asia? A stake in the business for some international players!
The conditions of the deal site that the partnership will run for one year in exchange for an undisclosed stake in the skin care firm.
Having been a well known skin care brand in France for over 150 years, Crème Simon's is looking to promote its formulations developed for Asia's climate conditions to ultimately make it a household name on the region.
According to the company's managing director Felicia Soh; MediaCorp's range of media properties and its understanding of its customer segments made it the right fit for expanding its presence in Singapore.
These include Channel 8, LOVE97.2 and women’s magazines Elle and Style.
Crème Simon’s Asia Pacific operations also include stores in Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia and will soon expand to Thailand and Malaysia.
“This partnership will provide Crème Simon with significant media exposure, the means to scale through marketing and accelerate its growth in South East Asia,” said Sebastien Guillaud, managing partner of Hera Capital, a Singapore-based fund management company and the largest investor of Crème Simon.
"With our media injection, people in Singapore will be seeing and hearing a lot more of Crème Simon,” added Mr Guillaume Sachet, MediaCorp’s Head of Strategic Planning.
Singapore market for premium cosmetics is one of the hottest in Asia
Market researchers have found in recent years that the premium beauty category for the island state of Singapore is continuing to see high growth rates as the trend towards upgrading continues.
With a population of just over 5.5 million, Singapore appears tiny compared to Asia Pacific giants such as China and India, but with a GDP in excess of $50,000 and one of the highest spends on luxury goods in the entire region, the room to further develop spend on cosmetics is significant.
According to Euromonitor International, this growth is being fuelled by the fact that continued economic growth in the state is giving the average Singaporean higher disposable incomes.
This, combined with the fact that consumers there have long had a love affair with luxury goods because of the greater perception of the premium quality seen in super premium brands, is helping to push sales within this category at beauty counters and retail outlets across Singapore.
Key players in the country’s cosmetics market are those focused on the luxury end of spectrum, including names like L’Oreal, Shiseido, Estee Lauder and LVMH, but bigger mass market players such as Beiersdorf and Procter & Gamble also have a firm footing there.
