Stephane Rinderknech, the new head of the LVMH beauty division, worked for more than 20 years at L'Oréal Group and moved to China in 2011 before being promoted to the chief executive officer of L'Oréal China in 2016. LVMH on Monday appointed Stephane Rinderknech as chairman and chief executive officer of its beauty division. He was previously CEO of L'Oréal China. Rinderknech joined LVMH in 2022 to lead the hospitality business and will continue to manage the business in the future as well. A graduate of the Institut supérieur de gestion de Paris (ISG), he previously spent nearly 20 years at French beauty giant L'Oréal Group, where he worked as the CEO of L'Oréal's North American division in Miami in 2001. In 2001, he became Director of Lancome North America in Miami. He joined L'Oréal in 2001 and moved to China in 2011 to head the Consumer Public Affairs and Premium Cosmetics divisions before being promoted to CEO of L'Oréal China in 2016 and joining the L'Oréal Executive Committee two years later. In 2022, Stephane Rinderknech joined the LVMH Executive Committee and became Chief Executive Officer of the Group's Hospitality Excellence Business. Bernard Arnault, Chief Executive Officer of LVMH, said that Stephane has demonstrated an exceptional ability to achieve outstanding results, develop the organisation and harness the talents of his people throughout his career. He is able to lead the Group's business to the next level. In addition to this appointment, LVMH also announced several other important personnel changes, appointing Veronique Courtois, Head of Guerlain, as President and CEO of Parfums Christian Dior, and Gabrielle Saint-Genis Rodriguez, Head of Make Up For Ever, to replace him at Guerlain. In January, LVMH held a conference call with analysts in Paris after announcing its figures for the 2022 financial year. At the conference, LVMH said the group was confident that the Chinese luxury market would recover this year as China continued to reopen.

Only Write owes more than 500,000 yuan ($72,050) and only repays 50,000 yuan ($7205). Recently, CHAILEEDO learned from the China Judgements Online that Hangzhou Bowu Management Co. (hereinafter referred to as Bowu), to which Only Write Beauty Collection belongs, was ordered by the Hangzhou Qiantang District People's Court to pay Hangzhou Chunyuan Trade Ltd. Co. (hereinafter referred to as Hangzhou Chunyuan) more than 500,000 yuan for goods owed to it in a dispute over a sales and purchase contract. According to public reports, the first Only Write shop opened in Hangzhou on 28 March 2020, with products covering Chinese and international mainstream beauty brands in categories including colour cosmetics, skincare and fragrances. Its products are in the form of single products, big brand samples and beauty mystery boxes. Only Write was once favourably received by capital for its relatively new model and bright single-store performance. In March 2021, Only Write received an angel round of funding of tens of millions of yuan from Vision Knight Capital. In November of the same year, Only Write received another exclusive investment from a well-known industry fund, completing a Series A investment of 45 million yuan ($6.5 million). And just as Only Write was surging ahead, it had been fined several times in 2021 for operating cosmetics without legal sources and selling cosmetics without Chinese labels. In response to this loan default, CHAILEEDO called Bowu and Hangzhou Chunyuan respectively for details. As of press time, the phone Zhou Jianlei, the person in charge of Bowu, has not been connected, and Hangzhou Chunyuan has not replied. "The case of Bowu has already been adjudicated." According to a source close to Hangzhou Chunyuan spoke to CHAILEEDO. Some public information shows that the Futian District People's Court in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, froze the equity of Bowu for 670,000 yuan ($96.5 thousand) last year. Also in early March this year, Bowu was listed as an executee by the Qiantang District People's Court in Hangzhou, with an enforcement bid of 50,000 yuan ($7.2 thousand). The other party involved in this case, Hangzhou Chunyuan, was established in 1995 and is a comprehensive beauty agency and marketing company with a strong industry presence in China, with several exclusive import beauty brands, such as MORCANCOS, THE SAEM and AYIRES. Its offline channel partners include WOW COLOUR, Afiona and Gialen, among other well-known chain shops. According to the public information on the website of the China Judgements Online, on 14 November 2022, the Qiantang District People's Court in Hangzhou filed a case regarding a dispute over the sale and purchase contract between Hangzhou Chunyuan and Bowu. According to another civil first instance judgment issued by the said court, the plaintiff Chunyuan Trade filed a claim with the court, "Between 19 May 2017 and 23 June 2022, the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan provided the defendant Bowu with a series of cosmetics such as MORCANCOS. Upon settlement between the parties, the defendant owed the plaintiff a total of 542,778.50 ($78,214.4) for the goods as of September 2022. The defendant issued a "Letter of Repayment" to the plaintiff, but only paid 50,000 yuan ($7205) thereafter." In response, the plaintiff, Hangzhou Chunyuan, demanded that the defendant, Bowu, pay the full amount of the purchase price and interest from the date of filing the lawsuit until the actual payment was made, and bear the costs of the case and the costs of preservation. The defendant Bowu, said that the defendant and the plaintiff do not exist in the sale contract relationship, the plaintiff asked the defendant to pay the so-called 542,778.50 yuan ($78214.4) payment and pay interest claim does not have any factual and legal basis and other reasons, refused to pay. But the court held that, according to the plaintiff to provide the relevant information and the parties to the trial statements on file, the plaintiff and the defendant between the existence of a sales contract, and the evidence submitted by the plaintiff can prove the defendant still owes the fact that the goods, the plaintiff repeatedly to the defendant to call the remaining payment, to no avail. Finally, the court made "the defendant Bowu in this judgment within ten days of the date of entry into force to pay the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan 542778.50 yuan ($78214.4)", and at the same time to pay the plaintiff Hangzhou Chunyuan late payment losses.

Estée Lauder says Lahnie Strange will help Bobbi Brown further advance the development of its Vitamin Enriched Face Base and Intensive Serum Foundation. Today, Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) announced the appointment of Lahnie Strange as Senior Vice President, Global General Manager of Bobbi Brown. A proven brand builder, Lahnie will further elevate Bobbi Brown's aspirational and premium positioning and will work closely with Sandra to lead global brand strategy and new product and commercial innovation to build and expand star products such as the Vitamin Enriched Face Base and Intensive Serum Foundation to further drive its momentum. On Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall, the Vitamin Enriched Face Base is priced at 205 yuan ($29.6) and sells 10,000+ units per month, while Intensive Serum Foundation is priced at 650 yuan ($93.8) and sells 800+ units per month. Lahnie will report to Sandra Main, President of La Mer and Bobbi Brown Global Brands, and will join the company's expanded executive leadership team, Estée Lauder said. Sandra Main said "Lahnie returns to the brand after nearly six years in a marketing leadership role at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, where she will use her deep understanding of our art-driven brands to continue to drive growth in consumer segments, channels and markets." Previously, Lahnie served as senior vice president of global marketing and product development for Estée Lauder, overseeing product and commercial innovation for cosmetics, including the brand's franchise of Double Wear. Lahnie's leadership has developed new growth engines for Estée Lauder across key sub-categories of products and formats. Sandra is confident that Lahnie will lead the brand into the next chapter of growth. Estée Lauder notes that under Lahnie's leadership, Estée Lauder North America has grown its business through tailored, field-driven marketing strategies and realized new growth opportunities by expanding the consumer reach of key retailers. Estee Lauder's revenue declined 17% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2022, and net income fell even more by 64% year-over-year. The Estée Lauder skin care segment also saw growth in only one premium brand, Bobbi Brown.

After six years, MAOGEPING once again forays on IPO. On March 3, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has accepted the IPO application of MAOGEPING Cosmetics Co. (hereinafter referred to as MAOGEPING) Public information shows that MAOGEPING was founded in 2000. It became famous due to the founder of MAOGEPING's extraordinary make-up art. It is positioned as affordable luxury and high-end brand. The company's other brand LOVE FOR KEEPS was founded in 2008, a mass popular color cosmetics and skincare brand. In addition, MAOGEPING's business also covers make-up skills training schools. As early as December 2016, MAOGEPING has submitted to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to declare the material. In 2017, it initiative to suspend the IPO. In 2021, the IPO of MAOGEPING passed. Until March this year, the SSE finally disclosed that it has accepted MAOGEPING IPO application. It means that the process of IPO of MAOGEPING has experienced more than 6 years. From the prospectus, from 2020 to 2022, MAOGEPING revenue is 882 million yuan ($127.4 million), 1.43 billion yuan ($207 million), 1.682 billion yuan ($243 million). In 2021 and 2022, it grew 62.33%, and 17.5% year on year respectively. In terms of net profit, the net profit from 2020 to 2022 was 198 million yuan ($28.6 million), 327 million yuan ($47.3 million) and 349 million yuan ($50.4 million) respectively. Specifically on the brand, from 2020 to 2022, the brand MAOGEPING sales revenue was 754 million yuan ($109 million), 1.28 billion yuan ($185 million) and 1.571 billion yuan ($227 million) respectively, with year-on-year growth of 69.34% and 23.01% from 2021 to 2022 respectively. During the same period, the sales revenue of LOVE FOR KEEPS was RMB 39,659,400,000, RMB 50,455,200,000 and RMB 28,992,500,000 respectively, accounting for 4.60%, 3.59% and 1.76% of the main business revenue respectively. According to the prospectus, MAOGEPING brand accounted for more than 85% of the main business income in each period, which is the company's core brand. What is more surprising is that the ratio of color cosmetics to skincare under the MAOGEPING brand has reached 6:4. Last year, MAOGEPING brand color cosmetics revenue was 900 million yuan ($130 million), up 1.7% year-on-year. Its skincare revenue was 670 million yuan ($96.8 million), up 71% year-on-year, accounting for 40%. As for the environment of the industry, it is reasonable to see that MAOGEPING made effort to skincare. On the one hand, in the three-year pandemic, the color cosmetics market suffered a greater impact so companies need to seek new growth points. On the other hand, the user stickiness of skincare is stronger than color cosmetics and the cycle is longer, which is in line with the conglomerate's multi-category strategy. The prospectus introduces, skincare category of MAOGEPING brand has 37 single products, covering makeup remover, concealer, eyebrow pencil, face cream, eye cream, mask, essence and other multi-category. MAOGEPING pointed out in the prospectus, the brand created new highs on its flagship shop on the Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall and Chinese social media platform Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and other platforms. Currently, the flagship shop of MAOGEPING has 4.4 million followers and 1.4 million followers on the Douyin platform. Its flagship store ranked 14 in color cosmetic category during Chinese Shopping Festival Double 11 in 2022. Its concealer category product sales ranked No. 1 on the Douyin platform. Its high-end highlighter and air cushion foundation ranked No. 2 on Douyin platform. Its foundation/cream ranked No. 1 and air cushion foundation during Chinese Shopping Festival Double 11 last year. In addition, in terms of gross margin, the gross margin of MAOGEPING brand was higher from 2020 to 2022, 86.7%, 84.45% and 84.22% respectively, due to the positioning of mid-to-high-end. The company's overall gross margin is also among the highest in the peer group of comparable companies. As can be seen from the chart, from 2020 to 2022, MAOGEPING's overall gross margin is 81.2%, 80.54% and 81.17% respectively, all higher than domestic and international beauty giants such as L'Oreal and BTN, and second only to L'Occitane. Overall, according to the search of local cosmetics listed companies in the first three-quarters of 2022performance, CHAILEEDO found that companies enjoying better performance than MAOGEPING are Shanghai Jahwa, Bloomage Biotech, PROYA, S’Young, BTN, etc. In other words, MAOGEPING current is on par with Marubi. If the company is successfully listed, it may become TOP 10 of the local cosmetics listed companies.

AI platforms have the potential to assist cosmetic companies in finding the appropriate components for their solutions and also enhance their cosmetic formulas. MetaNovas Biotech, which is positioned as the world's leading new generation of AI-driven functional raw materials&product R&D and design platform, was born in early 2021. Based on AI technology, it can design new raw materials for cosmetics, find new uses for existing raw materials, explain the mechanism of action, and also help the work of formulators improve. Wang Meijie, CEO of MetaNovas Biotech, said that the core reason for the efficacy of cosmetics is that the active molecules contained in products interact with genes or targets in the skin through biological mechanisms. "For example, the well-known anti-aging raw material A alcohol is known to everyone for its anti-aging effect, so many people may not be clear about how it is anti-aging, but we can quickly find clues through our AI platform. Its application is to help brands better carry out the scientific dissemination of products." She introduced that MetaNovas Biotech's AI algorithm platform can quickly analyze, find, recognize, or predict how bioactive substances affect specific molecular receptors, functions, and biological pathways. Compared with the traditional method, the data-driven method powered by machine learning can often provide a set of safe and effective product formulations within a few seconds to a few hours, shortening the entire development cycle. "Through the AI algorithm platform, some engineers and formulators can avoid detours in the research and development process, and give early warning for the risks in the research and development process." AI platforms have the potential to assist cosmetic companies in finding the appropriate components for their solutions and also enhance their cosmetic formulas. Wang Meijie told CHAILEEDO that MetaNovas has four core technology platforms, MetaNLP, MetaKG, MetaPep, and MetaOmics. "These four platforms can not only be used alone but also be used in combination with each other. For example, MetaKG+MetaOmics can help researchers understand the efficacy mechanism and optimize the scheme for different populations."

Post-epidemic, beauty consumers have become more accustomed to online consumption. (source: LOreal) According to WWD， at a luncheon hosted by the Economic Club of New York，Nicolas Hieronimus talked about the next frontier of beauty in L'Oreal's view. L'Oreal's 2022 financial report states that COVID-19 measures have impacted offline physical store sales. However, the report also reveals that L'Oreal's digital sales in China have experienced double-digit growth. According to Morgan Stanley data, global e-commerce rose from 15% of total retail sales in 2019 to 21% in 2021. Due to the closure of physical stores and consumers prioritizing convenience, e-commerce in the United States may account for 31% of sales by 2026. Post-pandemic, beauty consumers are more digital than ever, and Hieronimus plans to be one of the first in the metaverse. He believes that people's consumption habits have changed, and now it's more about online and offline(o-plus-o). “They want to change often. If I wanted to go platinum blond tomorrow, we won’t be able to go back to what we had today. That’s something you can do in the metaverse, and so many of these players are changing their outfits every day,” He said in response to WWD's question. “It’s a great way to engage with our brands, and it’s a great way also to foster creativity.” Beauty giant L’Oreal’s venture capital fund BOLD (Business Opportunities for L’Oreal Development) has invested in Digital Village, a metaverse-as-a-service platform and NFT marketplace for brands, creators, and communities. (read more) L'Oreal prepared very early in the metaverse. In March 2022, it applied for 17 trademarks related to NFT and metaverse categories, involving brands such as Kiehl's, Maybelline, Pureology, Urban Decay, and Redken. According to the data from Statista, the market size of the metaverse is expected to reach $47.48 billion in 2022 and rise to $678.8 billion in 2030. “Hopefully one day, we’ll also be selling lipsticks in the metaverse,” he said. Source: WWD

Nox Bellcow(NBC) has been using AI technology to create makeup removal products for a long time. This year, NBC is doing personalized services for face masks, which will use AI technology to assist the production. Qiu Xiaofeng, now vice president (research and development) of NBC Cosmetics Co., Ltd. has made many public appearances in the industry in recent years. The man who frequently steps on stage and is also at the helm of R&D at China's leading cosmetic OEM company. He has witnessed the ups and downs of China's cosmetic industry, and has seen China's cosmetics usher in a new era of research-driven growth. "Distance." Talking about the most impressive feelings about the changes in the industry in recent years, Qiu Xiaofeng summed it up with two words in an exclusive interview with CHAILEEDO recently. In his opinion, in the past few years, affected by the pandemic, in addition to the distance between people, business to business also been lack of communication on cutting-edge information, resulting in the cosmetic upstream and downstream with foreign countries produced distance. As he said, trends in the cosmetics industry are ever-changing, and a little slackness makes it easy to distance oneself from all parties. "As early as around 2019, NBC insight into the concept of clean beauty abroad, when we should be the first to speak about this topic, and now a few years have passed." Qiu Xiaofeng said that the industry is now popular for recombinant collagen and synthetic biology topics. Although there is also a lot of relevant information on the market, we don’t know the global in these areas to what extent the development, "we need to grasp to catch up the lost time, because cutting-edge technology to produce distance is the most terrible." Technology is the weapon that drives dreams into reality. Likewise, technology will give companies the ability to harness scale and speed to respond more effectively to rapidly changing consumer demand and market patterns. Qiu Xiaofeng further said that the industry is now talking about AI technology, NBC has also long carried out the deployment of a number of intelligence, in order to help companies develop better products. It is understood that the NBC AI technology platform contains AI image analysis, personalized formulations and intelligent manufacturing, which can be based on personalized data for customer-tailored services. And the wide development of AI technology also lets many industry people ask the question "Will AI kill the formulator?" Qiu Xiaofeng believes that AI technology will speed up recipe development, but the human touch and fashion sense of cosmetics will not be easily replaced. "In the beginning, we used AI technology to make makeup remover products, and it enabled us to understand consumers' skin conditions more quickly so that we could grasp their efficacy needs." According to Qiu, "This year, NBC is doing personalized services for face masks and will use AI technology to assist in the work." In the cosmetics market, mask always occupies an important position. This category is the main focus of NBC. Qiu Xiaofeng said that the change from Tencel to seaweed fiber, graphene and other masks not only shows that the mask market is becoming more and more mature, but also shows that consumer demand has become more and more clear. He believes that further innovation of the mask should be based on two aspects, on the one hand, more convenient to use in multiple scenes. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the efficacy of the mask not just focus on the innovation of the film. It is understood that the current penetration rate of the beauty market mask is very high. Some data show that in 2022, the sales of the mask on the Jitterbug platform grew 122.2% year-on-year. The mask market is dominated by patch-type masks, but the potential of applicator masks should not be underestimated, and the market share has expanded by 22% in 3 years. Based on this, NBC strives to achieve higher requirements throughout the ODM industry chain from raw material selection, formula research, and efficacy verification to meet the higher requirements of brands and consumers for cosmetics. "Driving the development of the enterprise by scientific research creates more effective products to serve consumers." At the end of the interview, Qiu Xiaofeng expressed his view on the beauty market this year, "There is still a lot of uncertainty in 2023, but as long as we do everything on the ground, we will be able to reap the rewards."

On February 14, Unilever announced that it has sold its beauty and personal care brand Suave in North America to Yellow Wood Partners LLC, a private equity firm, in a deal whose terms have not yet been disclosed and which is expected to close in the second quarter. Suave's main products include hair care, skin care, skin cleansing and deodorant. It is worth noting that the transaction includes only the U.S. and Canada. Outside of these two regions, Unilever will still retain all terms of Suave.

Chinese actor Gong Jun endorsed a certain toothpaste. The advertising video is suspected to constitute an absolute term, which is suspected of false propaganda and violates the Advertising Law of People’s Republic of China. Recently, some people file a complaint to the Beijing Advertising Association Celebrity Endorsement Standardization Committee (hereinafter referred to as Celebrity Endorsement Standardization Committee) that a certain brand of toothpaste endorsed by actor Gong Jun was suspected of false propaganda, claiming that "the product was not as good as advertised after using it for a while".

This year, DewyLab intends to make a comprehensive effort from the brand, the product and the R&D that has been built, and to deepen the standard of clean color cosmetics. At the beginning of 2021, the clean beauty brand DewyLab was founded in China. Just over a year after its establishment, it completed a $10 million Pre-A round of financing. It also became the first beauty brand invested by Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform), which has received wide attention from the beauty industry. The first impression of its founder, Zhou Hui, is intellectual and firm-eyed. When it comes to why she wants to step into the track of clean beauty, she gave the most straightforward answer - clean beauty will definitely rise in China. It is undeniable that the trend of clean beauty is not just started today. As early as 2012, an overseas niche skincare brand Drunk Elephant put forward "no additives, clean and natural" and other similar concepts. And Zhou Hui keenly observed the actions of overseas beauty groups, "They found that clean beauty as an important concept can fundamentally influence consumers. In recent years they have launched massive brand acquisitions at extremely high premiums, and with the way they have been playing for so many years, acquiring brands at high premiums and then expanding globally to reap the rewards is a predictable thing." China will definitely face the impact of overseas clean beauty brands, so how should Chinese brands prepare before meeting this wave? Zhou Hui feels that the present moment is an important opportunity to “bend the curve”. "If we let overseas beauty groups once again define clean beauty as they did 20 years ago when China first entered the world and educate Chinese consumers about what beauty, good products and good technology are, we will miss the time to take the initiative. I think clean beauty is the inevitable development trend. In the inevitable direction, Chinese brands have the opportunity to be able to define their own product standards for the first time, and this opportunity is very valuable." In an exclusive interview with CHAILEEDO, Zhou Hui thought so. "In 2022, because of the whole environment and consumer confidence, DewyLab is mainly steadily going to do some infrastructure construction. In addition to announcing strategic cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and international beauty giant Intercos Group respectively, DewyLab also has deployed China's clean color cosmetics R&D system." Zhou Hui said when sharing DewyLab's initiatives in the previous year. With 2019 to 2022 being the three years trapped by the pandemic, cultivating internal strength was the decision of most brands in the uncertain environment of the past, and introverted caution was the common stance. In 2023, "the whole environment and the market economy are actually showing some signs of recovery". Therefore, this year, DewyLab intends to "make a comprehensive effort from the brand side, the product side and the R&D side that has been built", and to deepen the standard of clean color cosmetics. In terms of communication with consumers, consumers' media habits are still on mobile devices, based on this, DewyLab will "find the social media consumer where he is and communicate with him in a way he understands." Based on consumer insights, we will then do deeper and better user messaging and communication, and gradually build up people's trust in Rackets' clean makeup. "What does the brand have to do at this time? The first is acting, the second is reacting. We are now on standby and ready to do everything. The market is getting better and better, with the market taking advantage of the momentum. We also hope to have good partners in all aspects, together to make clean beauty in China into China's clean beauty."

Today, Beiersdorf Group released its financial report for the whole year of 2022. The total sales of the group reached 8.79 billion euros ($9.4 billion) last year, up 15.4% year on year, setting the best performance in decades. With regard to the brilliant performance in 2022, CEO of Beiersdorf Vincent Warnery said， “2022 was an excellent year for Beiersdorf with a remarkable result for both business segments, Consumer and tesa. For the first time in at least two decades, we delivered double-digit organic sales growth.” In 2022, the Group's Consumer Business Segment reached 7.13 billion euros ($7.62 billion), up 16.3% year on year, accounting for more than 80% of the total sales. The sales of tesa Business Segment was 1.66 billion euros ($1.78 billion), up 11.3% year on year. Beiersdorf said in the financial report that despite the volatile market environment in 2022, the Group had achieved the most successful performance in recent years. With the increase in the Group's sales, the Group's operating performance has also been significantly improved, reaching 1.2 billion euros ($1.282 billion), compared with 9.93 billion euros ($1.061 billion) the previous year. Vincent Warnery pointed out that “Our major growth and profitability drivers were well balanced between the NIVEA business in Europe, the NIVEA business in the Emerging Markets, our Derma business, and our luxury business with La Prairie.” NIVEA, the group's core brand, performed brilliantly with organic growth of 9.6%. The skincare and personal care products of this brand increased significantly. According to the financial report, NIVEA has increased its market share in all regions and major categories. In addition, the sales of La Prairie, a high-end skincare brand of Bayersdorf, increased by 1.9% organically in 2022, from 599 million euros ($640.1 million) to 655 million euros ($701.1 million). This growth is mainly due to the recovery of important tourism retail business and the improvement of physical retail business in North America.

Beiersdorf has launched a series of sustainability landing plans in China, with green and sustainable development and integration of all product packaging. "One of my biggest and best decisions was to join the company and decide to stay," replied Ketin Lei, General Manager Corporate Affairs Beiersdorf China, in a recent interview with CHAILEEDO, without thinking twice. Before joining Beiersdorf in 2010, Ketin Lei had spent many years in the real estate and automotive industries. The crossover from the automotive to the cosmetics industry, as it was understood by the outside world, was, in Ketin Lei's view, "an act of God". At the time, Nivea was already well known in the industry. From a personal point of view, he had been in contact with and used Nivea products since he was at university in 1998. He was also a beneficiary of the brand. By coincidence, he joined Beiersdorf and has been there for 13 years. Over the past 13 years, he has witnessed the take-off of the cosmetics market in China, the changes in the channels, the regulatory adjustment period and the pains of the pandemic. He has also witnessed and participated in the "letting go" and "taking in" of Beiersdorf China. Most notably, in 2019, the Beiersdorf Group is implementing its "C.A.R.E. +" strategy, which encompasses a focus on skincare, investment, digital transformation and care for people and the environment, as China begins a new cycle as a strategic market for the Group. "In 2019, we have decided to focus on Skin Care, until then we are looking to fly on both wings (skincare + hair care). So as you know, we are sending off the Slek in 2019 to focus more on skincare, containing skincare brands such as Nivea, Eucerin, Chantecaille and Coppertone." During the interview, Ketin Lei repeatedly emphasised the Group's determination to focus on Skin Care. For example, how to strengthen the new communication between Nivea and consumers, and how the channel can adapt to the current fragmentation, more products of Eucerin can come in through general trade, and then go offline when the time is ripe, so that the online and offline can develop synergistically, Chantecaille, which is still taking cross-border trade, how to land in China step by step in the future. "I think all these things alone are enough for us to do well for three years, and any one thing done well is a good thing for the whole group to take root in China." Ketin Lei said. According to Beiersdorf's financial results, overall group sales grew to €6.7 billion ($7.1 billion) in the first nine months of 2022, representing organic growth of 11.1 per cent, with all three brands - Nivea, Eucerin and La Prairie - achieving growth. The new strategy Beiersdorf is pushing forward in 2019, which was not precipitated by the pandemic and, as Ketin Lei said, "there was no pandemic yet. But even if it came afterwards, we still adjusted well these three years." As a top cosmetics company, "we also place a lot of emphasis on sustainability. In response to the 'double carbon' goal, we have a series of sustainability landing programmes in China." Ketin Lei told CHAILEEDO that the Shanghai Innovation Centre is focused and deeply committed to product sustainability, developing and integrating all product packaging in a green and sustainable way from the perspective of the four "Rs" - meeting the requirements of 100% refillable, reusable or recyclable, and using recycled packaging. reusable or recyclable, using recycled materials and optimising design for lightweight packaging. It is understood that the Shanghai Innovation Centre is the second largest innovation centre in the world for the Beiersdorf Group and is both an important innovation base for the local Chinese market and also carries the responsibility of linking the global and Chinese missions. "How to balance global region and local is a constant topic for multinational companies." This is how Ketin Lei sees it. In simple terms, in terms of linking the global and China, "From the R&D perspective, we have nearly 1,000 scientists worldwide, with our headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, gathering scientific and technological strength to carry out ground-breaking cutting-edge basic research, while China does a good job of developing the application layer, that's one aspect." The second aspect, according to him, is that the Shanghai Innovation Centre has a high level of authority and is one of the few innovation centres that can develop its own products independently, being able to develop them for the Chinese market. "This is also based on the fact that the Chinese market is big enough that we feel the need to do this." He revealed to CHAILEEDO that Beiersdorf has proposed to the relevant authorities to initiate the establishment of a cosmetic industry promotion centre in the Yangtze River Delta.