Argentum Apothecary was acquired by USHOPAL

During the Douyin 818 Discover Good Things Festival, Argentum is ranked third in the Luxury Beauty and Precious Care list and first in the Precious Women's Skin Care Recommendation list.

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Ushopal, an omnichannel brand partner from China, recently announced the acquisition of Argentum Apothecary, a British luxury skincare brand. According to the USHOPAL official account on Wechat, during the Douyin 818 Discover Good Things Festival, Argentum is ranked third in the Luxury Beauty and Precious Care list and first in the Precious Women's Skin Care Recommendation list.

USHOPAL was founded in 2015 and completed a Series D round of funding of nearly $100 million in March last year. It has exclusive distribution rights for 11 international niche high-end beauty products in China. USHOPAL's main business is to help overseas brands enter the Chinese market through data operations and omnichannel integration. USHOPAL serves brands such as SUQQU, Anastasia, and Chantecaille.

Argentum was co-founded in 2011 by Joy Isaacs and Dr. Gilbert Mouzin, a pioneering scientist in the field of global aesthetics. Dr. Gilbert Mouzin was the Executive Director of the Skin Care Research Center of the Pierre Fabre Group (parent company of the Avène brand) in France and Scientific Advisor for Skin Care and Pharmacology for the same period. In 2018, Argentum officially entered the Chinese market and opened Tmall overseas flagship store, official flagship store, douyin flagship store, and offline duty-free stores in turn. Last November, Argentum has received a round of equity investment from USHOPAL and handed over full responsibility for brand operations in Asia to USHOPAL.

“It really has accelerated our growth in China enormously. They have been able to support in registering our products on the ground and growing sales in a sustainable and authentic way,” said Joy Isaacs, founder, and chief executive officer of Argentum Apothecary.

According to USHOPAL insiders, Argentum spent 15 years to build a perfect product matrix including creams, oils, water, milk, perfumes, skin care devices, and nearly 100 SKUs, which will also be gradually brought into the Chinese market by USHOPAL Group. Through this acquisition, Argentum's experience in creating luxury beauty products, its accumulated technology and formula patents, global top ingredients, formula reserves, and supply network will further improve USHOPAL Group's high-end beauty branding, R&D, and supply chain capabilities. This is an important step for USHOPAL to go beyond China to the world and grow into the "Gen Z New Luxury Beauty Group".

Since 2021, a portion of imported cosmetic brands have had poor sales in the Chinese market, including many brands that are popular in the international market such as Stila, GLAMGLOW, and Sarah Chapman. There is a natural cultural divide between such international brands and the Chinese market, and they may be caught in a difficult situation in terms of promotion and marketing. Through the acquisition, local Chinese companies can present more excellent brands to Chinese consumers with operational means that are more in line with the local market.