Premium Beauty News - What the heck is going on in the makeup industry?
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - It is clear that many players probably underestimated, three or four years ago, the growing influence of the Internet on an entire generation for online purchases. And we also underestimated, of course, the power of people expressing themselves on the internet to praise the benefits of a particular product and whose legitimacy seemed insignificant at first sight. But, not only has this legitimacy continued to gain momentum but sales of products "hence scrutinized and put forward" have also dramatically increased.
Gone are the times when classical purchases in department stores resulted from a voluntary approach, now have come times for spontaneous purchases, impulse purchases, selfies purchases, triggered by the talent, persuasion of a particular blogger or influencer.
Premium Beauty News - Given this radical change in buying behaviours, the only sensible thing to do was to take action!
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - Yes of course, but it’s not that easy when you have to manage research teams, marketing teams, for some of them plants and for all of them rather traditional distribution channels. Because meanwhile, "internet players" don’t have to bother with all this. They move fast, offer special bargains, change their product lines or launch new ones in no time. There is no respite, you have hardly launched a counter offensive that you have to deal simultaneously with multiple and new attacks coming from all fronts. You therefore need to be very responsive, very flexible... and very competitive!
Premium Beauty News - A "revolution" which obviously is impacting the entire industrial sector.
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - It is the increasing acceleration of the subcontracting sector whose "full service" offer can only but attract new comers, and as an indirect consequence established industry players who have no other alternatives than to have recourse to it more and more. "Time to Market" and "Innovation" have become essential tools to stay in the game.
Premium Beauty News - Does it mean the whole sector is going to switch to total subcontracting?
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - Not easy to predict but some say it. Nothing is sure, but some leading brands strongly think so. And for others, it is clearly the only way to quickly gain market share. Hence, there is a real re-balancing between manufacturers who are part of this subcontracting sector.
Formulators / fillers are obviously the most sought-after. So much so that they are asked more and more to provide a full service, including packaging, accessories and even in some cases the POS equipment to set up in the outlets. Formulators / fillers have become, over the years, real trend setters. We are far from the times when a basic subcontractor only performed what he was asked to do. This sector has fantastically structured and equipped itself industrially speaking. It is now fast, innovative and full of creativity.
And among packaging manufacturers, a lot of them are understanding that it’s time to jump on the bandwagon before it starts gaining too much speed, by also remaining close to brand owners but also, increasingly, to formulators/fillers, by offering solutions and not just an industrial product, by also anticipating market demand, by being reactive and pro-active. In a nutshell, by staying at the forefront. Another true revolution to address! Probably the biggest of all, because existing industrial tools have not really been formatted for this type of challenge.
Premium Beauty News - But as the saying goes "tall oaks from little acorn grows" and the same is true for small companies who will need an industrial strike force worthy of the name?
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - That’s true and that’s what’s reassuring for these manufacturers but nonetheless we are observing an historic shift. And it was very interesting to see the latest press releases of a number of packaging manufacturers such as the Albéa, Texen or Pochet Groups who were precisely oriented in that direction and have understood what it takes to stay "in the game".
Premium Beauty News - You are offering a helping hand, which can only be grasped! In this context of hyper specialization of an industrial sector... "niche" trade shows are more than welcomed?
Jean-Yves Bourgeois - "Niche" trade shows cannot be created everywhere! A true notion of "industry" must exist. It exists in premium packaging and the Luxe Pack trade show is a proof. It also exists for cosmetic ingredients and the in-cosmetics trade shows are a proof. And finally it also exists in the make-up industry and the ‘MakeUp In’ events obviously evidence it.
