Brief Summary of L'oreal Background - Malaysia

1.0 Brief Summary of L'Oreal background

L'Oreal is one of the largest cosmetics companies in the world. It produces and markets a range of make-up, perfume, hair and skin care products. The company's products are sold under well-known brands such as L'Oreal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline, SoftSheen Carson, CCB Paris, L'Oreal Professionel, Kerastase, and Redken. Thus, here we focus the cosmetics and toiletries market overview in Malaysia.

2.0 Cosmetics and Toiletries Market Overview in Malaysia

2.1 Market Demand

Malaysians spent about US$600 million on cosmetics and toiletries products, appliances and equipment in 2008. Toiletries industry is defined as the industry which manufactures consumer products used for beautification and in personal hygiene. The examples of the cosmetics and toiletries products are such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, makeup and deodorant. This has been the upward trend for the past three years, and the demand is mainly met by imports. With the current global recessionary economic climate, growth for 2009 is expected to be more cautionary in nature.

There is a natural tendency for mass market and drug store/ pharmacies cosmetics and toiletries to thrive in times of economic uncertainties. Majority of the mass market cosmetics and toiletries are mostly manufactured locally or in the ASEAN region. Market leaders for cosmetics in the fast moving consumer goods segment are the multinational corporations (MNCs). Unilever, L’Oreal, and Proctor and Gamble have strong presences in Malaysia.

France and Switzerland are the two top most popular countries of origin for salon/spa skin-care products from the European Union. Spanish, Greece and Italian skin-care products are slowly gaining market acceptance as well. l Australian skin-care products can easily be found in the Malaysian market. So do Japanese and Korean products. Skin-care products from the USA targeting the salon and spa industry are on the rise.

Apart from skin-care products, the second largest contributor to the cosmetics and toiletries industry is color cosmetics. Lip-coloring products command the largest share in the color cosmetic pie compared to face, eye and nails. Popular mass market brands available in the market are mostly from the USA: Cover Girl; Maybelline; L’Oreal; etc. Popular higher priced color cosmetics brands available in the market are mainly from the Estee Lauder Companies, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), and Chanel.

Most of the equipment and devices used in this market are imported. On the lower end of the pricing range, Chinese and Taiwanese equipment and devices are very popular. USA and EU equipment and devices usually are targeted towards the high end market segment. For this report purpose, the usage of cosmetics and toiletries industry would encompass facial skin-care