- 2024-03-20
- 阅读量：4459
- 来源｜Cosmetic Business Online
- 作者｜Shi Run Mei
Can a new CEO with extensive beauty and retail experience help La Prairie return to growth?
On March 21, Beiersdorf announced on its website the appointment of Estelle Létang as CEO of its luxury skincare brand La Prairie.Estelle Létang will be responsible for driving La Prairie's strategic direction and long-term vision, and she will also oversee the day-to-day management of the company's business operations, commercial priorities and infrastructure, including all corporate functions, international subsidiaries and global distributor markets. The appointment will be effective April 1st.
● Estelle Létang
Estelle Létang is known to have worked for the Estée Lauder Group for more than 21 years as an executive for a number of the Group's brands. She began her career with Estée Lauder's brand Darphin Paris and has worked in New York, Paris and Hong Kong. During her time in Hong Kong, China, she served as Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific for Lamer Aquamarine Enigma and Jo Malone London Zu Malone, and in 2016, Estelle Létang moved to London to take up the role of Vice President and General Manager of Jo Malone London Zu Malone's international business. Since 2020, she has been General Manager of Estée Lauder Middle East based in Dubai.
Commenting on Estelle Létang, La Prairie describes her as a dynamic personality, strategic thinker and passionate about brand building, and describes her as an empathetic and approachable leader who creates a balance between a high-performance culture and a caring, developmental approach.
Estelle Létang said, "I am thrilled to be joining such an iconic and prestigious brand. I am excited to lead its transformation and work closely with the talented team to build La Prairie's future."
From the performance level, La Prairie's current development is encountering considerable challenges. Data show that in the global market, La Prairie developed rapidly in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the three years before the epidemic, with a growth rate of 11.50%, 38.50% and 20% respectively; in 2020, it slipped by 23.9%.
In the first half of last year, La Prairie sales declined 9.9% year-on-year organically, and plunged 10.5% at actual exchange rates to €294 million.For the full year 2023, La Prairie's organic sales slipped by 15.4%, making it the only two brands in the Beiersdorf Group to see a decline in sales (the other being fellow luxury skincare brand Chantecaille Chantecaille). Longitudinally, La Prairie's organic sales declined last year for the first time in nearly three years, and organic sales will only grow 1.9% in 2022.
La Prairie's last CEO, Philippe Lamy, who will take office in March 2022, is a beauty and luxury retail expert with several years of experience working for the Italian fashion brand Loro Piana, the Chinese luxury brand "Shang Xia" under Hermès, and L'Oréal. She has extensive experience in luxury retailing, having worked for the Italian fashion brand Loro Piana, the Chinese luxury brand "Shang Xia" under Hermès, and the L'Oreal Group for several years.
● Philippe Lamy
Leading La Prairie is Philippe Lamy's return after more than a decade away from the skincare industry, and La Prairie has said it wants Philippe Lamy to use his wealth of luxury experience to propel La Prairie forward and help the brand maximize its potential to become the luxury beauty brand it was envisioned to be.
After welcoming new executives, La Prairie has accelerated its layout in China. last year, La Prairie announced that it would open 20 new stores and move into four brand new cities, expanding its retail footprint to 42 cities. in August, the brand also opened the first La Prairie House in mainland China at the Bund Financial Center of BFC in Shanghai, offering consumers a richer range of spa and other In August, the brand also opened the first La Prairie House in mainland China in Shanghai's BFC Bund Finance Center, providing consumers with a richer spa and other high-end care experience and linking consumers through active offline retail layout.
However, in terms of results, La Prairie did not enjoy the expected growth. Vincent Warnery, group chief executive, attributed the brand's immediate challenges to a slowdown in travel retail due to restrictions on substitute shopping in Asia, particularly in South Korea and Hainan.
● Clinique La Prairie Anti-Aging Treatment Center
La Prairie was founded in Switzerland in 1978 and has been around for over 40 years. The origins of the brand can be traced back to the famous Clinique La Prairie anti-aging care center located on the shores of Lake Leman, Switzerland. 1991, La Prairie was incorporated by the Beiersdorf Group and became the representative of its luxury skincare brand. 2005, La Prairie entered China.
In the Chinese market, La Prairie has been committed to research in the field of anti-aging skin care, focusing on high-end skin care market. At present, compared with the same "noblewoman" of the mystery of the sea blue, HELENA, La Prairie's performance is not outstanding. In Tmall, La Prairie's best-selling product "Caviar Extract Joan Noble Eye Cream" (20ml/3450 yuan), sales of 4,000 +, the same price range of the HELENA Black Bandage Cream (50ml/3880 yuan), sales of 100,000 +, and topped the list of creams in the hot sales.
How to get back to growth has become an important task for La Prairie at this stage. Beiersdorf mentioned in its 2023 financial report that given the market conditions, La Prairie has decided to use 2023 as a transition year to clear inventory and normalize inventory levels. The group hopes to return La Prairie to growth in 2024 through healthy inventory levels, product innovation, an enhanced social commerce setup and expansion of its travel retail business.
Commenting on the latest appointment, Patrick Rasquinet, Member of the Executive Board of Beiersdorf, said, "Estelle brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to La Prairie with her impressive track record in the beauty and cosmetics industry (across fragrance, color cosmetics and skincare). We are thrilled to have found someone so accomplished to lead our brand and inspire our people in the next phase of La Prairie's journey."
CBO will keep an eye on whether La Prairie can get out of its earnings slump under its new CEO.
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