For more than ten years, buyer buyers of China, pushing a fast -growing economy and increased salary, raised products from cosmetic giants like L’aral. Estee Lauderand shiseido. Before hit Covid Pandemic appeared China set to overtake US as the world’s largest makeup market.
These times the boom is over because more Chinese consumers are now turning to new local brands such as Mao Geping and Florasis.
Sales L’Oreal in mainland China dive Last year, reducing North Asia’s total sales by about 3%. The Chinese market, the bulk of the North Asia’s revenue, currently accounts for 17% of the group sales, which is compared to 23% in 2022. French firm continues to call China an important market but has justify began to reduce its retail labor from the slow demand in China.
As China stagnates, L’Oreal is now considering regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia as a source of growth.
Sapmena – the term L’Oreal for “South -Asian -Tzikhakan region, the Middle East and North Africa” - soon “played a much more role” when it comes to beauty, says Visma Sharma, who oversees the French cosmetic firm.
L’Oreal, No. 91 on Fortune’s Europe 500, report Sales of 1.1 billion euros (1.19 billion dollars) for the first quarter of 2025, which is 12.2% compared to last year, in Sapman and Africa south (SSA).
This is still little compared to other regions far beyond Europe, North America and North Asia. But while Sapmena-SSA only contributed 9.2% The quarterly income is L’Oreal, it was the only region that entered the double -digit growth.
Sapman covers a huge platform of the globe, which stretches from Morocco to New Zealand just under 19,000 kilometers. The region’s 35 markets cover 3 billion people, or about 40% of the world’s population, but accounting for only 10% of world beauty sales. “It must come together, and in the end the demographic must win,” says Sharma.
The rapid growth of Sapmena is not surprising the Sharma. “Consumers in this part of the world are about 5 years younger than the rest of the world, live in ambitious societies and in economics that are growing fast,” he says.
China has proven a difficult market for world cosmetic firms after a pandemic. Saluggy China sales have drawn the financial results of the American company Estee Lauder and Shiseido Japan.
The economy and stagnant consumption are to blame for the martial. But there is also a new competition. C-Beauty brands start collecting Steam among Chinese buyers, and new brands will become viral on Douyin, Chinese version of Tiktok and other social media platforms. (L’Oreal draws attention by investing in local Chinese brands, love summer)
However, Sharma believes that China offers Sapmena lessons.
Southeast Asia, like China, has highly related consumers who are used to e-commerce and live systems. For example, Sharma notes that more than 50% of the L’Oreal business in Vietnam comes from e -commerce.
This is less concerned with the Middle East and North Africa.
“If you look at the beauty ecosystem out there, you still don’t have a Tiktok store. They’re still a few years behind the platforms like Shopee as Lazada,” he says.
However, consumers in the Middle East share similar advantages to those in Southeast Asia. “Beauty expectations are very similar. We see the aspirations in terms of hair, skin, lips and eyes,” says Sharma, pointing to longer black hair.
It gives l’areal the opportunity to grow in the region. “Our ability to create content on GCC is a huge advantage,” Sharma says.
Originally this story was presented on Fortune.com
