First Global Brand Entering Indian Derma Market: Beiersdorf's Vincent Warnery | CNBC TV18

The launch of Luminous, which is this new franchise, I think is really a revolution. We're going to move from a brand that Indians love to a brand that they praise for the efficacy. When you look, there is not a more interesting category than face care. This is 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, I think, 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 have in India 12,000 dermatologists, as many as in all of Europe. And we are expecting those dermatologists to welcome Eucerin, to welcome this new active ingredient. We have the DermaCon this week in India, where we're going to meet 7,000 out of the 12,000 dermatologists, so it's a fantastic opportunity. We've started to talk with them. So also, I think Beiersdorf will become a referent company for dermatologists, and this is essential for Beiersdorf. Everything started with the 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. And now with all the new e-commerce players you have in India, starting with Nykaa, we have a great opportunity to make this luxury brand also 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 2% of the total sales of Beiersdorf, but I have a strong appetite. I think seeing India becoming a 500 million euro business for us in the coming 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. It's also a fantastic business accelerator not only for India but for the rest of the world. So really a big, 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. It's very interesting to see the expertise of consumers, particularly this generation, regarding ingredients, regarding what hyaluronic acid is doing, what retinol is doing, what are the pros and cons. So you cannot fool them. You have to tell them the truth. You have to be true to your claims. You cannot claim things that you're not delivering. So that's very interesting because it's also raising the bar. It's forcing us to have this good level of conversation with them, to also make them aware of what we are doing. We do a lot of visits to 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, we can talk about ingredients, and we can really convince them. And when they are, 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 that are based on ingredients. We see the sophistication, we see this need to raise the bar, and this is why we felt 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 a 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. And it might be a speech of the new president of the United States which is suddenly asking us to increase a little bit the production out of Mexico before there are some tax increases. It's also about making decisions when you have a country at war with another one, Russia and Ukraine for example. I think we try to stay true to the history of this company. We try to be loyal to consumers, to ensure that our consumers, the loyal consumers who have been buying the brand for decades, can find their product. So we are lucky enough to be in a market that is pretty resilient. Even during COVID years, we declined but not as much as other markets. People want to take care of their skin, they want to enjoy the pleasure of a new texture of a brand. And this has been the motto of Beiersdorf for 140 years, and we stay true to that. So new wars will come, new problems will come; we try to stay focused on our consumers and bring them what might make their life a little bit better. We are not changing lives, but we are trying to make the life of our consumers...

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 that are supposed to be for women. So we are entering into something that is more unisex, less men-woman. We have been launching this ingredient Thiamidol for men, for example, and it's paying off. But it's even bigger: the share of men is even bigger on the core franchise Luminous that we are launching in India. So coming with a new offer that is more sophisticated but also simple — we have to be down-to-earth in the concept and the way we sell the product. We have to use influencers as well, and that's something interesting. You see a lot of men influencers. You mention China for example, in China and 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 obviously the penetration of skincare in the male population is much lower than the number of women we are able to target with our products.

I mean, we have a motto which I love, which is we want to be the best skincare company in the world. So in the world, based on 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 is for me extremely important, being the best in terms of people management. We have a very interesting culture in this company, a caring culture. We call it 'We care'. We take care of the people, we are developing people, we are not doing social plans, for example. We always try 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 which is very important. So if at the end of my mandate as a CEO, which will be end of 2030, I have 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. It was really great meeting you.