INTERVIEW


Anne Laure Lecerf on why SkinCeuticals is leading the medicalisation of beauty

LOréal Travel Retail Active Cosmetics & Professional Products Divisions General Manager Anne-Laure Lecerf discusses SkinCeuticals’ travel retail appeal and how the brand is leveraging the medicalisation wave to boost growth and expand its presence in the channel. She also underscores travel retail’s function as a recruitment driver for medical aesthetic brands and recaps the brand’s first-ever hotel takeover partnership with China Duty Free Group and The Sanya EDITION Hotel.

While other brands have suffered greatly from the global pandemic, SkinCeuticals is emerging from the crisis more robust than ever. Driven by the increased demand for selfcare and changing consumer perceptions towards medicalisation, SkinCeuticals and its no-nonsense science-backed formulations can help drive recovery not just for L’Oréal Travel Retail, but also the wider travel retail channel, according to Active Cosmetics & Professional Products Divisions General Manager Anne-Laure Lecerf.

As the number-one aesthetic medicine brand in the world, and powered by decades of dermatological research, SkinCeuticals is a brand with plenty to offer in travel retail, she says. “SkinCeuticals resonates in travel retail because it pushes the limits of science to deliver the most precise, powerful, and proven solutions that transform skin appearance while respecting its health. It is also very successful in China, a key travel retail market, where consumers are looking for expert products to take care of their skin. I am very confident it will keep growing in the channel in the years to come.”

Anne-Laure Lecerf : “Through better, more collaborative partnerships, the Trinity has taken the COVID opportunity to reset and reinvent the channel”

Travel retail functions as both a showcase and sales driver for many L’Oréal brands and for SkinCeuticals the former role is particularly important. “Skinceuticals is a brand that strongly recruits consumers through travel retail. In 2021, 33% of our buyers were new to the channel,” says Lecerf.

"Travel retail offers a unique environment where customers can get the full SkinCeuticals experience. In travel retail, they can get personalised skincare advice and test the products too. These consumers are on holiday and so they have time to try out new things and learn about the value and efficacy of our products.” As detailed in our feature on page 6, SkinCeuticals and China Duty Free Group recently partnered to host the brand’s first-ever hotel takeover at the Sanya EDITION Hotel in Hainan. The laboratory-themed ‘Antioxidant Lab’ activation combined the brand’s dermatological expertise with an exciting array of online and offline experiences, entertaining and educating travellers about the science-backed efficacy of its formulations.

SkinCeuticals resonates in travel retail because it pushes the limits of science to deliver the most precise, powerful, and proven solutions that transform skin appearance while respecting its health

Commenting on the success of the event and the importance of the Hainan offshore duty free market to SkinCeuticals’ business today, Lecerf says: “Hainan has become a key location in travel retail. Our last event in Hainan in the Sanya EDITION Hotel, where travellers could experience a full brand journey both online and offline and be fully immersed in the world of SkinCeuticals. Travellers also got the chance to experience our highly-effective serum products — and they have obviously been convinced because the event was a huge success.” Skincare, self-care and medicalisation are some of the biggest consumer trends to have emerged from the pandemic and according to Lecerf, SkinCeuticals’ is making sure that it capitalises on these important shifts in shopper behaviour.

“As a medical aesthetic brand, SkinCeuticals is exactly what people are looking for,” she contends. “COVID has increased everyone’s stress and anxiety and so consumers need skin solutions that work. This is what SkinCeuticals is all about and this is where best-selling serums — such as CE Ferulic, Discoloration Defense and Silymarin CF — can really make a difference.”

SkinCeuticals is ready for the post-pandemic beauty world but how should travel retail, so disproportionately affected by the crisis, evolve to meet changing consumer needs? Lecerf says it’s all about better collaboration. “Through better, more collaborative partnerships, the Trinity has taken the COVID opportunity to reset and reinvent the channel. We saw travel retail stakeholders work together to modernise stores, innovate with contactless sampling, enhance skin diagnosis and increase services through digital tools. All this gives travellers more opportunities to enjoy the travel retail shopping experience safely and confidently. “Passenger numbers will continue to grow,” she adds. “Our main priority as a brand is to keep delivering customer satisfaction and building consumer trust. We will keep improving our brand experience and deliver high-quality products and services, accurate skincare diagnosis, and personalised skincare recommendations so we can be ready to meet passengers when they return.” Driven by the increased demand for medicalised products, SkinCeuticals — along with L’Oréal Travel Retail’s other active cosmetics and professional brands — has accelerated strongly throughout the crisis. In Lecerf’s view, SkinCeuticals will play a key in driving category and wider channel recovery. “With a very specific medical background and history, SkinCeuticals is a powerful weapon for our partners to recruit more customers to the travel retail shops," Lecerf says. “Skincare solutions have evolved a lot and these days people are looking for true efficacy. SkinCeuticals offers highly-concentrated formulas and provides visible results, which is why it’s so successful everywhere including in travel retail.”

SkinCeuticals is constantly improving its products and services, leveraging digital tools to offer accurate skincare recommendations to consumers

Spotlight Series - December 2021

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