L’Oréal SA history, profile and corporate video
L’Oréal SA engages in the manufacture and sale of beauty and hair products. It operates through the following segments: Professional Products, Consumer Products, L’Oréal Luxury, and Active Cosmetics. The Professional Products segment manufactures products which are used and sold in hair salons. The Consumer Products segment offers beauty and care products for men and women which are sold in mass marketretail channels. The L’Oréal Luxury segment markets high-end skin care and beauty products in selective retail outlets such as department stores, perfumeries, and travel retail. The Active Cosmetics segment offers dermocosmetic skincare products which are sold in pharmacies and specialist sections of drugstores. The company was founded by Eugéne Schueller in 1909 and is headquartered in Paris, France.“
“L’Oréal Group History
In 1909, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed a hair dye formula called Auréale. Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he then sold toParisian hairdressers. On 31 July 1919, Schueller registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France). The guiding principles of the company, which eventually became L’Oréal, were research and innovation in the field of beauty. In 1920, the company employed three chemists. By 1950, the teams were 100 strong; that number reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 today.
Schueller provided financial support and held meetings for La Cagoule at L’Oréal headquarters. La Cagoule was a violent French fascist-leaning and anti-communist group whose leader formed a political party Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire (MSR, Social Revolutionary Movement) which in Occupied France supported the Vichy collaboration with the Nazis.[5] L’Oréal hired several members of the group as executives after World War II, such as Jacques Corrèze, who served as CEO of the United States operation. This involvement was extensively researched by Michael Bar-Zohar in his book, Bitter Scent.
L’Oréal got its start in the hair-color business, but the company soon branched out into other cleansing and beauty products. L’Oréal currently markets over 500 brands and many thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business: hair colour, permanents, hair styling, body and skin care, cleansers, makeup and fragrances. The company’s products are found in a wide variety of distribution channels, from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper – and supermarkets, health/beauty outlets, pharmacies and direct mail.
L’Oréal has six worldwide research and development centres: two in France: Aulnay and Chevilly; one in the U.S.: Clark, New Jersey; one in Japan: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; in 2005 one was established in Shanghai, China, and one in India. A future facility in the US will be in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.
From 1988 to 1989, L’Oréal controlled the film company Paravision, whose properties included the Filmation and De Laurentiis libraries. StudioCanal acquired the Paravision properties in 1994.
L’Oréal purchased Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical field. Synthélabo merged with Sanofi in 1999 to become Sanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis in 2004 to become Sanofi-Aventis.
On 17 March 2006, L’Oréal purchased cosmetics company The Body Shop for £562 million.
L’Oréal’s famous advertising slogan is at “Because I’m worth it”. In the mid 2000s, this was replaced by “Because you’re worth it”. In late 2009, the slogan was changed again to “Because we’re worth it” following motivation analysis and work into consumer psychology of Dr. Maxim Titorenko. The shift to “we” was made to create stronger consumer involvement in L’Oréal philosophy and lifestyle and provide more consumer satisfaction with L’Oréal products. L’Oréal also owns a Hair and Body products line for kids calledL’Oréal Kids, the slogan for which is “Because we’re worth it too”.
In 1987, during the growth years of the mail order business, L’Oréal and 3 Suisses founded Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté for mail-order sales of cosmetic products, with brands including Agnès b., Cosmence and Professeur Christine Poelman among others. In March 2008, L’Oréal acquired 3 Suisse’s stake, taking sole control of the company. In November 2013, L’Oréal announced that Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté would cease activity in the first half of 2014.
In November 2012, L’Oréal inaugurated the largest factory in the Jababeka Industrial Park, Cikarang, Indonesia, with a total investment of USD$100 million. The production will be absorbed 25 percent by domestic market and the rest will be exported. In 2010, significant growth occurred at Indonesia with 61 percent increase of unit sales or 28 percent of net sales.
On 11 February 2014 it was announced that L’Oreal has sealed a deal worth €3.4bn to buy back 8% of its shares from Swiss consumer goods giant Nestle. As a result of the deal, Nestle’s stake in L’Oreal will be reduced from 29.4pc to 23.29pc while the Bettencourt Meyers family’s stake will increase from 30.6pc to 33.2pc. Nestle has owned a stake in L’Oreal since 1974 when it bought into the company at the request of Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the founder of L’Oreal and world’s richest woman, who was trying to prevent the French state’s intervention in the company.
On 20 February 2014, Shiseido agreed to sell its Carita and Decléor brands to L’Oréal for €227.5 million (USD$312.93 million (2014)).
On 18 June 2014, L’Oréal agreed to acquire NYX Cosmetics for an undisclosed price, bolstering its makeup offer in North America where its consumer-products unit has faltered.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
**Video published on YouTube by “Fast Company“