Sol de Janeiro plans expansion as it wins again for L’Occitane Group
It said the Gen Z-favourite brand, which has been a standout star in the travel-retail industry, had a “record-breaking” holiday season that benefited from the launches of its Delicia Drench Body Butter, new hair mist, and "expansion of its distribution with a significant multi-brand partner in the US."
Indeed, the group announced that within a week of the product’s exclusive launch at UK prestige beauty retailer Space NK, the Delicia Drench Body Butter was "the no.1 SKU across the entire Space NK business with the highest rate of sale in store for a new product."
Current vice chairman and CEO of the group, André Hoffmann, said the business now planned to continue to capitalise on Sol de Janeiro’s stellar popularity and growth and that it planned to “steadily expand its product and category range, and the scale and reach of its distribution.”
Elemis returned to growth
The British spa brand Elemis also returned to double-digit growth of 14.7% during the quarter after a “solid” trading period. The business said UK and US sales grew by 23.2% and 19.4% respectively.
Over the past year, the brand has undertaken an ongoing ‘premiumisation strategy’, which it said was intended to boost its “long-term profitability”.
L'Occitane sales declined in EMEA & travel-retail
Meanwhile, flagship brand L’Occitane en Provence, saw sales continue to struggle, with figures dropping by 2.9% during the holiday season.
The business noted that sales declined in EMEA, travel-retail sales also dropped, but that this was partially offset by an uptick in sales growth in China that “enabled us to maintain our growth momentum and relative outperformance in the premium beauty market in China and other key markets,” according to Hoffman.
The American market has been most lucrative for the business, with sales up 67.1% for the first three quarters of its financial year, mainly driven by Sol de Janeiro.
IN APAC, sales increased by 6.7% due to strong sales of both L’Occitane en Provence and Elemis in China.
Building a “geographically balanced portfolio of premium beauty and fragrance brands”
L’Occitane also recently invested in the luxury home fragrance sector with the acquisition of Italian brand Dr. Vranjes Firenze as part of its strategy to “build a geographically balanced portfolio of premium beauty and fragrance brands.”
Hoffman said the business will also “further build on the healthy growth of other brands, including our recently acquired luxury home fragrance brand, Dr. Vranjes Firenze, to round out our portfolio.”
Overall, for the first full nine months of L’Occitane’s 2024 financial year, sales reached €1.9bn, up by 18.9% on the same period the previous year.
In early January, the business had also announced changes in its senior management team. As of 1st April 2024, the functions of group CEO and managing director are set to be combined into a single position, CEO, and the role will be assumed by Laurent Marteau.
Marteau is set to take over from current CEO André Hoffmann, to whom he was reporting. Hoffmann – who has been with the business since 1995 – is set to step down from the CEO post but stay with the business as a member of the board of directors.
