Live 5 mars : Interview de Bris Rocher, Président du Groupe Rocher

All true. I am chairman and CEO of Groupe Rocher since 2010. Today the group includes ten brands: Yves Rocher, Arbonne, Petit Bateau, Stanhome, Kiotis, Dr. Pierre Ricaud, Daniel Jouvance, and Sabu perfumes. March 2021 is not just March; I think early 2021 will be similar to 2020, still affected by the health crisis with lockdowns in Europe. In France, we are not locked down but are impacted by closure of shopping centers over 20,000 square meters, affecting 230 Yves Rocher stores. However, the strength of Groupe Rocher is its diversification across brands, geography, and distribution channels, including e-commerce and social selling. This diversification helped mitigate the negative effects of store closures. With vaccine scaling, the second half of 2021 should be much better. What is reassuring is customer loyalty; when stores reopened, customers came back. Some open stores are outperforming with double-digit like-for-like growth despite reduced hours due to curfew. This reflects the strength of our brands and the relationship with our beauty advisors. The crisis is putting the human element back at the center, and digitalization cannot happen without the human touch.

What is interesting about Groupe Rocher is that it has always known how to pivot. My grandfather started Yves Rocher as a natural beauty products brand sold by mail order to democratize beauty. During the 1968 postal strike, he could not deliver parcels, so he opened stores in 1969. Retail then overtook mail order. Retail is not dead; the numbers prove it. When stores reopened, customers responded. However, we wanted to have two legs. Mail order is in structural decline, so we developed social selling: the home party model digitalized through Facebook, WhatsApp. We learned from acquiring Stanhome in the late 1990s, founded by Stanley Beveridge, inventor of the home party in 1932. During the first lockdown, social selling in Italy grew nearly 10% in April because people craved connection. The key is putting the human at the center and offering personal development for independent consultants. Social selling became our second channel in 2019 and now our first, surpassing retail. E-commerce also grew at triple-digit rates. Digitalization happened while keeping the human at the core.

We need to equip our network with cutting-edge technological tools. We work with the best: Google, Salesforce on the front end, SAP, Oracle on the back end. Implementing these tools is essential to deliver performance. This is a major challenge for the next ten, twenty, thirty years because technology constantly evolves. It must be integrated into business models like electricity.

Yes, it is constraining because we impose things on ourselves, but that's what we are paid for. I think it is not a constraint; it is a considerable upside. I am a fervent defender of the mission-driven company. I encourage everyone to go that direction. It is legally enforceable. Last year at the Aix-en-Provence economic meetings, there was a debate. Some argued it could increase costs and affect purchasing power. But a company exists to meet consumer expectations. Consumers vote with their credit cards. The company also exists for its employees; the raison d'être is a reason to be for them. The Pacte law has three dimensions: first, revision of Article 1 of statutes to include societal and environmental aspects; second, questioning the company's purpose; third, inscribing that purpose in statutes with a mission committee and third-party certification. The real risk is not committing; the real risk is image damage if found in non-compliance. We must move from storytelling to story doing. Over 30 years, we've moved from patronage to CSR to mission-driven. This is only the beginning; let's go joyfully.

Yes, we work on all subjects. We distinguish between singular and conventional objectives. Groupe Rocher's purpose is to reconnect women and men to nature. A singular objective is to plant trees, but not for carbon offset; we plant with our communities. It takes a day, we put our hands in the soil, and it reconnects us to ourselves, others, and the planet. That inspires action for the planet. Regarding carbon, we are not fans of carbon neutrality because compensation can be a permission to pollute. We prefer low carbon sobriety. We plant trees because they store carbon, but we do it to reconnect. However, we still have conventional objectives to reduce emissions.

I prefer to talk about digital, which includes e-commerce and social selling. In 2020, combined they already represent 50% of our group revenue. E-commerce has taken over from mail order, social selling from retail. But retail is not dead. For Yves Rocher, in-store beauty treatments cannot be digitalized. So it will be a combination. On the second question, there is no risk. Social selling has been regulated since 1932 and exists in all countries. It is not a concern.

Our first market is France, the second is the US, which still has enormous potential. In Asia, even though Japan is our sixth or seventh country, there is strong development through almost all our brands. Petit Bateau has about fifty stores in China and its second market is Japan. Arbonne's first market is Japan and it has just entered China. So all brands are working to develop in that region.

Clearly, too few companies have taken this path. You must go with determination. The real risk is not going. Companies that are not engaged will suffer negative economic performance because they must meet consumer expectations. Consumers vote with their credit cards. When they buy a brand, they make it a vehicle of their own purpose. They want to belong to a community of committed brands. This is a 30-year trend from patronage to CSR to mission-driven. We are only at the beginning; let's go joyfully.