Designer beauty brand, Estée Lauder South Africa has entered the local market with a full line branded counter at Lintons Beauty World located at the Junction Mall. Africa presents one of the fastest developing markets in the world and the demand for cosmetics is growing at a frantic pace.
The center will offer expert advice and signature services from Estée Lauder's Beauty advisors in skin care, make-up and fragrance. Targeted at high-income groups, the retailer is confident that consumers in Kenya will take up the products and services. Lintons has also opened another line for Clinique products, another global brand in skincare products. Estée Lauder and Clinique join other international cosmetics brands that are seeking to grow their consumer base in Kenya and other parts in Africa.
A few months ago, L'Oreal opened its first subsidiary in the country targeting to make it the hub for the regional market. L'Oreal first three brands, Dark n lovely, Garnier and L'Oreal were motivated by a growing middle class. according to Karen Buglisi, global brand president of MAC, in Nigeria, “They want trend, they want fashion, they want luxury,” for example. Zambian and Botswanan women prefer a more conservative look. The African middle class, particularly in Nigeria, is on the rise and beauty brands are looking to tap into those burgeoning markets.
Geoff Skingsley, executive vice president at L’Oreal told WWD. “The majority of these markets are economically stable and have a lot of natural wealth and they also have a stronger middle class than they had a generation ago. The whole continent is interesting. Right now, it’s very uneven. But if you pick the right spots, they have a lot of potential.”
Pankaj Menon, General Manager of Al Hathboor International (agents for AVON) says that his company is very happy with its dealings with African buyers. "We are keen to expand our presence in Africa and are looking forward to much greater business volumes in the coming months and years," he says.
Secondly, there is also the question of sourcing products from different countries and even continents. For instance, an African importer may be interested in facial products from Europe, toiletry from the Far East and herbal cosmetics from the USA. But this would place immense logistics constraints and would involve travelling around the world and opening of letters of Credit with a host of banks. Often, all these obstacles would prove insurmountabe and many exporters would be put off by the sheer magnitude and complications of the whole exercise.
In such a scenario, Dubai offers African importers the ideal market place. "African buyers can source all their requirements from just one location," says Mohd Al Khatib, Managing Director, Siblin Cosmetics (LLC), a leading supplier of salon equipment. "Buyers can select from a vast range of merchandise and buy just the quantities they require and then transport the goods back to their home countries at very competitive freight costs," he says.
Aren't we happy that the Makeup companies are finally able to expand in Africa?
No comments:
Post a Comment