Premium Beauty News - Nail polish is always a growth market!

Jean-François Harpes - It’s the least we can say since the market has recorded a two digit growth in 2011. Although it is difficult to consider these figures in absolute terms, it is clear that the European and US market have been rising sharply. The growth of IL Cosmetics is certainly in correlation to that of the global market, but it is mainly due to the strong momentum which has been generated in recent years within the company.

Premium Beauty News - What momentum precisely?

Jean-François Harpes - You may recall that in 2010, we had launched a major investment plan of 11 million euros. This plan was originally planned for a period of five years. Given the economic situation and the current growth of the company the pace of this investment has been stepped up and will certainly be completed before term.

Premium Beauty News - What are the strong points of your next investments?

Jean-François Harpes - Our investments concern both equipments and the workforce.

We can actually announce a significant increase in the capacity of the three branches that form our business:

1. Components. Components are critical since they are required to be able to make the bulk. Our total capacity was doubled on the 1st of January 2012.

2 The Bulk. Bulk shades are intended to booming foreign markets and a key factor of success in the third branch: the full-service. The doubling of our production capacity will be effective during the third quarter of 2012.

3. Full-service. The 50% increase of our production capacity will be effective on the 1st of February 2012.

Our global capacity will thus equal 800 million bottles of nail polish, that is to say a quarter of the world’s entire market.

Premium Beauty News - And in terms of workforce, then?

Jean-François Harpes - IL cosmetics is not only investing in equipment but we are also focusing on reinforcing our sales, management and marketing teams with a doubling of the current workforce by 2013 as well as a strong emphasis on quality and innovation, two hubs that will see their number of people increase by 50% in 2012.

The innovation hub is the result of the symbiosis and dynamics between the marketing and development departments and has an aim to always stay in tune with markets: to capture their needs, understand them and to then translate them into a product response that satisfies the expectations of the end consumer. This implies a thorough and constant analysis of the reasons why consumers choose and buy a product rather than another.

Innovation stands therefore as a key driver not only to give us the means to offer new formulas in line with the findings of our consumer surveys but also to anticipate their future needs.

Innovation also remains a hub focused on novelty, hence our special collections and new formulations that will be showcased at Cosmoprof Bologna 2012.