12 Carrousel du Louvre - BW Confidential

Interview
CONFIDENTIAL
P&G regional director prestige Asia Pacific
Carla Liuni & gm global SK-II Parinda Hasdarngkul
Asia advancement
P&G regional director prestige Asia Pacific Carla Liuni and
Parinda Hasdarngkul, general manager global SK-II, talk about
the development of the fragrance market in Asia and the next steps
for prestige brand SK-II in the region
P&G recently announced that it will move its beauty headquarters to
Singapore. What impact will this have?
CL: Global Prestige was the first beauty unit to have its headquarters in Singapore. We
moved our base to Asia in June 2011 to meet the growing demand for prestige beauty,
led by the prestige skincare division. For travel retail in Asia, we are looking to expand in
key markets that have been growing steadily such as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.
Which fragrance brands are you focusing on for Asia?
CL: Beauty & Grooming continues to be one of the big focus areas in P&G [and the division]
contributed 33% of net sales. Within Beauty & Grooming, prestige is an important
and growing segment. The prestige category globally is 30% of the world’s spend on
beauty overall, totaling more than $90bn and growing 5% each year—this makes the
prestige category a very attractive one in which to compete.
This year we are seeing continued growth in key Asian fragrance markets. We have seen
double-digit growth on Dolce & Gabbana with Light Blue and The One; Hugo Boss with
Boss Orange, Hugo Just Different and Boss Bottled Night and Gucci has grown high
double digits this year over a year ago fueled by Gucci Guilty and Gucci Flora Garden.
What are the difficulties of building fragrance-only brands in China?
CL: Our key challenge is the comparatively low fragrance category development in China.
Today, less than 1% of the population uses fragrances compared to more than 60% for
Western Europe or the US. But branding is the number-one decision driver for Chinese
consumers when purchasing fragrance. They also have a strong desire to learn about
fragrance, which is why we build in category education into every communication
vehicle—PR, marketing and in-store counseling.
Another challenge is to provide a prestigious shopping experience across China’s large
geography. By prioritizing our resources in the right channels and right doors we strive to
get the best available location and create prestigious shopping experiences.
How do you see the development of the fragrance market in China ?
CL: Fragrance is a rather under-developed category in China; however it is growing in
the double digits. We see growing interest from consumers, especially the younger ones.
Gifting remains a key driver, but we also see more consumers buying for themselves.
Providing the right visibility for fragrances [in-store] greatly impacts sales as the category
is very impulse-driven. n n n
s Carla Luini (top) and
Parinda Hasdarngkul (bottom)
P&G Prestige
Asia-Pacific
l Fragrance bestsellers:
D&G Light Blue & The One;
Hugo Boss, Boss Orange, Hugo
Just Different, Boss Bottled
Night; Gucci Gucci Guilty, Gucci
Flora Garden collection
l SK-II sales:
$1bn (40-50% done in Japan)
www.bwconfidential.com - June 14-27, 2012 #56 - Page 8