Global Retail News: Can you please showcase the L’Occitane group? Nicolas Siriez:
L’Occitane creates, manufactures and sells cosmetic products from natural and organic ingredients. We run 2,797 stores, including 50% fully-owned units. In the fiscal year to March 2015, our operating margin jumped by 24% and turnover increased by 11.7% to €1.18 billion (+5.7% like-for-like).
Where does this dynamic come from?
Essentially from foreign countries, which account for 92% of sales. Japan is the largest sales market (16% of sales, 111 stores), followed by the U.S.A. (13%, 214 stores), Hong Kong (11%, 33 stores), China (9%, 161 stores) and France (7%, 81 stores). Chinese like-for-like sales jumped by 13% in 2014, Russian by 12%, Japanese by 9% and Taiwan by 6%.
Do you prefer investing directly to expand or via local partnerships?