L’Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus laid it on the table in June when he told Indian reporters in Paris that he saw the country as a land of opportunities. “It is one of the fastest-growing beauty markets in the world and is a big priority for L’Oreal,” he said. Contributing just over 1% to L’Oreal’s global turnover of $47 billion (Rs 4 lakh crore), the topline of the Indian operations of the company (at Rs 5,685 crore in FY25) hardly reflects the ambitions of its CEO.
Strategic Leadership for Accelerated Growth
The French major wants to dial up growth and more than double the business in India over the next few years. The appointment of Jacques Lebel this week as the country manager for India (effective October 1) must be viewed through this lens, industry executives said. He succeeds company veteran and current country head Aseem Kaushik, who will transition to the role of chairman.
The LSE and Harvard Business School alumnus, Lebel, who was previously general manager of the consumer products division (CPD) for L’Oreal in Mexico, will be expected to hit the ground running. The Indian unit, which manufactures and markets L’Oreal Paris apart from others such as Garnier, Maybelline New York and NYX Professional Makeup, produces about half a billion units in the country. It also exports to markets such as West Asia.
Lebel has been described as one with a “sharp and aggressive mind”, who will bring his multiple-market and cross-category experience to India. The consumer goods veteran, who has previously worked with Procter & Gamble (P&G) and AB InBev, has nearly two decades behind him. He has worked in Europe, US, Africa, West Asia and Latin America and is said to have a deep understanding of brands across beauty and personal, alcohol and beverages. India is not alien to Lebel as he was a marketing and innovation leader for P&G’s oral care business 10 years ago, spearheading expansion of the Oral-B brand in India, West Asia and Africa.
L’Oreal Mexico has consistently shown strong growth in the consumer products division, notably in haircare, skincare and makeup, industry sources said, thanks to Lebel’s execution abilities and strategic thinking. The consumer products division drives mainly mass-market brands (such as L’Oreal Paris), and Mexico, like India, is one of the two priority markets for the beauty major alongside Brazil in Latin America.
Navigating India’s Landscape
Recent years have seen L’Oreal India face increasing competition from not just legacy players such as Hindustan Unilever and Godrej Consumer, but also direct-to-consumer brands and retailers such as Nykaa and Reliance’s Tira as well as a steady stream of international labels that have made a beeline here. A Redseer-Nykaa report values India’s beauty market at $20 billion, which is slated to touch $34 billion by 2028 as consumers seek better products, backed by higher disposable incomes and greater awareness of beauty trends thanks to the explosion of social media channels (such as Instagram) and influencers.
Beauty is uniquely positioned, an industry executive said, because it touches people across age-groups and incomes. “A housewife in a small town is as interested in the most trending beauty topic as is a Gen Z consumer or millennial. This is both an opportunity and challenge because while you may have a large addressable market, the challenge is to be relevant to each one of them in terms of price, packaging, positioning and trade channel,” he said.
The French major is believed to be counting on Lebel to drive growth at the Indian unit, much like he did in Mexico. Both India and Mexico are currently ranked among L’Oreal’s top 15 list of markets globally. The growth rate of the India business of L’Oreal, however, has been around 14-15% per annum in terms of topline in recent years, lower than the around 30% growth rate per annum it was seeing earlier. Industry executives say that the L’Oreal global management hopes to see India get into the list of top 10 markets in the future, tapping a growing base of consumers across the country, using a combination of affordable and premium products. The company reaches around 250 million consumers with its products across the country. Lebel will look to push this number up as he targets greater reach for the beauty major’s brands in India.