Skin products lead sales jump at L'OREAL

The growth was driven mainly by Vichy, one of its two dermatological brands, which saw sales increase 40 per cent year on year, up from only 4-per-cent growth last year. Sales of L'Oreal's other brand, La Roche-Posay, which held a big launch for its Anthelios XL sunscreen recently, also grew impressively.

"The company took the opportunity of the launch of Vichy's latest product, called Normaderm, last month to run television commercials for the first time. The ads exposed the brand widely to the public after quietly building awareness among a limited number of customers for a long time," said Jirapa Techasarin, general manager for L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics Division, which markets the two brands.

"Actually, other consumers have already heard of the brand, so the ads encouraged them to try the products," she said.

In addition, the strong growth in health consciousness during the past few years is another major positive factor. Jirapa said the trend started with demand for healthy foods and beverages, expanded to non-food products and eventually came to beauty products.

"People are seeking more products that promise gentleness and complete safety for their skin, for which dermatological products can be the answer, because they're developed especially for sensitive skin. In the future, [consumers] will seek more products with more and more natural ingredients," she said.

The growing demand for this kind of product is worldwide. Currently, the market for dermatological products (also called "dermocosmetics") is worth ¤5.8 billion (Bt304 billion), which represents 5 per cent of the overall beauty-product market. In Thailand, dermocosmetics make up 10 per cent of the total beauty market.

The dermocosmetics market worldwide has also shown higher growth than the overall beauty market, 6.8 per cent versus 4.8 per cent. In Thailand, the dermocosmetics market's 14-per-cent growth is double that of the overall beauty market, and this trend will continue for many years, Jirapa said.

Competition in the market has been intense between current major brands and mass brands that are upgrading themselves to premium brands in a bid to catch the trend.