Banking on the future of beauty
Famed French label refocuses its sub-brands by offering skincare essentials to ordinary people and investing more in the China market, with its strongest-ever product lines, He Qi reports in Shanghai.
"We advocate for society to move beyond 'anti-aging' and embrace the idea of 'coexisting with time'," explains Peng Xizhe, dean of the Fudan University Institute of Aging Studies.
During the CIIE, L'Oreal also released the Essentiality of Beauty book, one of the first sociological monographs on the economics of beauty that explains the link between "beauty" and daily life in accessible terms.
The book outlines a four-dimensional framework — exploring beauty as a "cultural symbol" through history, analyzing its role in shaping lifestyles at the individual level, illustrating its value in driving employment from an economic perspective, and highlighting its role as a bridge for China-France cultural exchange on a global scale.
One statistic in the book stands out: "One job at L'Oreal China creates 20 additional jobs in related fields, generating over 330,000 direct and indirect jobs in total." This means beauty consultants in local stores, couriers delivering skincare products, and designers creating product packaging are all part of "bringing beauty into daily life".
According to Hieronimus, L'Oreal has already become the first beauty enterprise to sign up for the 9th CIIE.
It also plans to leverage the CIIE's "spillover effect" to turn "exhibition products into bestsellers". Items like Dr. G skincare and anti-hair-loss devices showcased this year may soon appear in community supermarkets and livestreaming rooms, becoming everyday purchases for ordinary consumers.
As Hieronimus states: "Investing in China is investing in the future."
