Global Dialogues | '2025 is India's Year'- Nivea-maker Beiersdorf's Global CEO Vincent Warnery

You know, it means Nivea since 1913 for the first time when we had a Nivea product which was sold in India, and since then we have been building year after year a very good, very strong presence in India. Nivea is the most trusted skincare brand for the fourth year consecutive year, so really really happy with the development of Nivea. But a lot to do. We are present in many product categories, but we are not present in the most important product category which is face care, which is 60% of the total skincare market. And this is why I'm very happy to come today to India because we are launching right now our first Nivea face care product specially designed for India called Luminous, and I'm expecting a lot from this product.

You know, it's very interesting to see that globally you have 29% of the people who have an issue linked with hyperpigmentation. 29% in India it's 37%. And we are coming with an ingredient which is called thiamidol that we launched in the globe in the world in 2018, which is the best anti-pigmentation ingredient in the world. We have been testing this ingredient over and over in all countries and it's the most successful ever launch of Beiersdorf with Nivea. And we've been working the last two to three years to develop a specific offer for India using the same concentration that we have in the rest of the world in terms of efficacy. But I think packaging, a product which is affordable because Nivea is affordable, Nivea is a value for money brand, and we didn't want to make the mistake that others have done to come at a price which was too high. So we have a very good price, it's 500 rupees, and you can find the product online and offline. And this is our first real entry into the face care market, so we're expecting a lot from the launch. Now with Nivea, we are using the same ingredient but with a different formula, different concentration for Eucerin, which is our derma brand that we are introducing this week in India. So we have a lot of hope linked to this hyperpigmentation consumer expectation which is developing across the world and particularly in India.

I mean, you know, that what is very interesting when you look at Indian consumers, they move from a market of cold cream, face care cream, to a much more sophisticated offer. We're talking about serums, we're talking about ingredients, we're talking about efficacy. And we are surfing on this wave. We come with the know-how of Beiersdorf, which is ingredients. Everything is based on ingredients. So thiamidol, also soon Epicel on anti-age, and we are developing formulas which are delivering true efficacy. And you're right to mention China. China also is obviously a very important market for this hyperpigmentation area, and we were lucky enough in November to get the first ever anti-hyperpigmentation ingredient validated by the regulatory authorities. So this is the first ever, so we also have a lot of hope for China, but will come in 2026. So 2025, this is the year of India. We have a lot of hope in terms of growth for Nivea, the mother brand, but also the fact that over the next four months we will introduce - we have already introduced Eucerin, but will come with La Prairie, which is the most luxury brand in the world, with Chantecaille, which is a very nice brand. So in fact between November '24 and June 2025, you will have the full portfolio of Beiersdorf launched in India, which proves the importance of the Indian market for us and the fact that this is the most strategic market we want to succeed in after, as I said, 20 years of good buildup of the brand and good successes across the country.

But you know, today India is already one of the top 10 countries for Beiersdorf, and we have only two brands. We have of course Nivea, only that, so we are missing the three other big brands which are the ones we are launching in India right now. So obviously we are in the top 10 today. I'm expecting India to be in the top five pretty quickly. We have a fantastic ecosystem. We have an R&D center in India, we have a factory in India, so that's one of the only countries where we have the full spectrum of activities. We have an extremely good team with a strong leader. We've also been doing a pretty good job over the last 20 years. Often when you look at the history of a business you see some mistakes, some failures, it's not the case for India. It was really a marathon, we've grown every year. And now I think the fact that we're able to come with this new ingredient and this is the first time we are coming with such a new ingredient with an offer which is designed for Indian consumers is making us very optimistic because it's surfing on the wave of sophistication of the market. It is clearly a big priority of online. Online we've been doubling the business since last year and we have a fantastic partnership with Nykaa and a lot of e-commerce players. It's also about digitalization. We talk about influencer marketing. We are no longer doing the classical TV that we used to do in the past when I was myself in marketing. We are using influencers, we are using digital media to talk to audience. So I think all the things happening in India, and particularly the fact that there is this increase of the middle class who wants to take care of their beauty, wants to take care of their skin, is a fantastic accelerator for us. I think we have never felt so ready for India than in 2025, and this is why we have this extreme dynamism launching three brands in six months.

I think what I did perhaps simply is to go back to the history of Beiersdorf. It's very interesting to see that Beiersdorf already 140 years ago invented modern skincare. We invented the value for brand which is Nivea, we invented also derma, the first dermatologic brand Eucerin was created by Beiersdorf. And then over the years we lost a little bit this edge, we lost a little bit this focus, we were a bit too distracted by other product categories. So the first thing I've done is to say it's great to have a lot of product categories but there is nothing more important than skincare, and the focus on skincare has been absolutely clear for each and every country for every brand. The second element, I mentioned that to you in the beginning of the interview, the R&D engine. We have a fantastic team of 1,000 researchers, some of them based in Mumbai, some of them in Hamburg, in Shanghai, in New Jersey, which have a fantastic know-how in skincare R&D. And I was able to put more money, obviously, but also to strengthen the organization to be sure that we get back to what we used to be, the motor of Beiersdorf: we find extraordinary ingredients and we use them for our brands. So used to be thiamidol in 2018. You will hear soon about Epicel, an anti-aging ingredient that we're launching right now, which is a fantastic anti-aging ingredient. We have other things coming in acne also. And acne is a very interesting story for Indians: 70% of Indian people have issue with acne, while globally it's 40%. So you imagine the potential for a company like us to enter this market. So back to ingredients. And last but not least, an appetite for growth, an appetite for entering white spaces. And India was a white space. We were good with some product categories but with only a few brands. So being more daring, bolder in entering China, India, even the US, Africa, where we have some business but we are not as big as we should be. And I think this recipe is working pretty well. We are in a very dynamic market. The beauty market is a great market. In bad years you grow 4%, in good years you grow up to 6%. We've been able to overperform the market and all our competitors in '23, in '24, hopefully in the last quarter we'll see soon the results of our competitors. But there is clearly a new growth appetite for this company with brands which are super well known and super respected by consumers, so that makes a pretty successful recipe for us. And this is why we are pretty successful in '24, in '23, and hopefully in 2025.

That's a great question. In terms of investment, we spend 3% of our sales in R&D, which is the best in class. If you look at L'Oréal, they are exactly at the same figure. So really investing big, and we never question these figures even in difficult years. In the COVID year 2020, we spent 3% of our net sales in R&D. I think what we have done is to refocus first the R&D on this search for outstanding ingredients, moving away from what we call marketing innovation, which is more concept and claims, into true R&D discovery of new ingredients. And then being sure that we leverage them on all our brands. We call that brand cascading. With the same ingredient, you can have a totally different formula and totally different story on Nivea, on Eucerin, on La Prairie and Chantecaille. And it's a pity to use only one brand to leverage one ingredient. So we've been doing that with thiamidol, which has been launched under Eucerin, Nivea, La Prairie, next month we launch it under Chantecaille. We do that also with Epicel and all our countries, all our business units are focusing most of the investment on the products which are using those new ingredients because this is where we make the difference. And this is paying off.

I mean in India, the launch of Luminous which is this new franchise I think is really a revolution. We're going to move from a brand that Indian love into a brand that they praise for the efficacy. Really when you look, there is not a more interesting category than face care. This is really when you prove the efficacy of your ingredient, when you prove the efficacy of your R&D. And this Luminous range that you will start to see everywhere in India will be a strong moment of pride for the company and for Nivea. And then we have Eucerin, we are entering this derma market. We are one of the first global brands entering the Indian derma market. You know that in India there are 12,000 dermatologists, as many as in all of Europe. And we are expecting those dermatologists to welcome Eucerin, to welcome this new thiamidol ingredient. We have the derma week in India where we're going to meet 7,000 of the 12,000 dermatologists. So it's a fantastic opportunity to start talking with them. Also I think Beiersdorf will become a reference company for dermatologists, and this is essential for Beiersdorf. This is how everything started, with famous Professor Unna who was the dermatologist working on the formula. And last but not least, we are super excited by the launch of La Prairie and Chantecaille. We struggled in the past because we didn't have a lot of department stores, and we used to be very offline, very linked to department stores. And now with all the new e-commerce players you have in India, starting with Nykaa, we have a great opportunity to make these luxury brands accessible not only offline but also online. So I'm expecting a lot from India. We have a business which is still small for us, it's 1% or 2% of total sales of Beiersdorf, but I have a strong appetite. I think seeing India becoming a 500 million euro business for us in the years is not a dream, it's something I really want to achieve. And also learning from Indian consumers: the fact that we have this R&D facility in Mumbai, and they are responsible for the global skin of color research, so every time we are developing a specific formula for black skin, for Asian skin, for Indian skin, this is developed in Mumbai. That is also a fantastic business accelerator not only for India but for the rest of the world. So really a big hope for India, helping us be better not only in India but also at the global level.

That's my objective. That's the objective I will give to our general manager.

They are super super demanding and they know what they're talking about. This is very interesting to see the expertise of consumers and particularly this generation regarding ingredients, regarding what salicylic acid is doing, what retinol is doing, what are the pros and cons. So you cannot bullshit them, you have to tell them the truth, you have to be true to your claims. You cannot claim things that you are not delivering. So that's very interesting because it's also raising the bar, it's also forcing us to have this good level of conversation with them, to also make them aware what we are doing. We do a lot of visits of our R&D center for example, also for influencers, so they can see the people who are formulating the products. So it's really a much more adult exchange with them where we can talk about formula, talk about ingredients, and when they are happy, which is what happened with this ingredient I was mentioning, it's really paying off. And we see this sophistication in India also because you have a lot of new brands also which are based on ingredients. We see this sophistication, this need to raise the bar, and this is why we felt that it was the right time to come with a more sophisticated offer not only on Nivea but also with the rest of the portfolio. That's the kind of challenge we like, and that's the kind of challenge where I think we have the good answer and we are able to convince them.

I mean it's my daily life. It might be a speech of the new president of the United States which is suddenly asking us to increase production out of Mexico before there are tax increases. It's also about making decisions when you have a country at war with another, Russia Ukraine for example. We try to stay true to the history of this company, try to be loyal to consumers to ensure that our loyal consumers can find their product. We are lucky to be in a resilient market. Even in COVID years we declined less. People want to take care of their skin, enjoy the pleasure of a new texture. That's the motto of Beiersdorf for 140 years. New wars will come, new problems will come, we stay focused on consumers and bringing them what makes their life a little bit better. We are not changing lives but we try to make the life of our consumers better.

You know, it's a bit tricky because men are much less sophisticated than women, we must admit that. So we are good with Nivea, we know Nivea Men is number two in the market in India, so we have a very good offer. But what we see more and more which is very interesting is that the most sophisticated men are buying products which are supposed to be for women. So we're entering into something which is more unisex. We have been launching this ingredient thiamidol on the men for example and it's paying off, but it's even bigger on the core franchise Luminous that we are launching in India. So coming with a new offer which is more sophisticated, which is also simple, we have to be down to earth in the concept, in the way we sell the product. We have to use also influencers, and that's something interesting. You see a lot of male influencers in China, in Korea. So it's a new way of talking to them, it's a new sophistication, and I think it's also a big business opportunity because the penetration of skincare in the men population is much lower than the number of women we are able to target with our product.

I mean, we have a motto which I love: we want to be the best skincare company in the world. In 'world best' you have everything. It's about obviously being the best in terms of growth, in terms of success, but it's also being the best in terms of innovation, and it's also, which for me is extremely important, be the best in terms of people management. We have a very interesting culture in this company, a caring culture. We call that 'We Care', where we take care of the people, we develop people, we are not doing social plans for example. That's something we always try to do, to take care of our people and be sure that they feel happy in the company, that they feel they have a chance to develop and grow. And that's something very important. So if at the end of my mandate as CEO, which will be end of 2030, I've been able to make Beiersdorf the best skincare company in the world following all these elements, I would be pretty proud.

Thank you so much for your time. It was really great meeting you.