Beauty Success, the fourth selective perfumery network in France after Sephora, Nocibé, and Marionnaud, is set to reach a new phase of development. After an 18 million euro capital increase in December 2015, the company has just announced it has purchased the Esthetic Center network and will launch a new brand later this month: Beauty Sisters.
Straight after entering into partnership with the Tanguy Parapharmacie network, this purchase has transformed Beauty Success into a multi-brand, multi-activity group dedicated to beauty, with three trades represented: perfumery, beauty salons, and parapharmacies. And to make this transition clearer, the company has changed its name for Beauty Success Group.
A multi-brand growth
Purchasing the Esthetic Center network - which gathers both beauty salons and nail care corners with the Beauty Full Nails brand - meant launching an ambitious growth strategy for the group’s six brands.
With a 1.7% growth, Beauty Success Group achieved “one of the best performances on the French market in 2015”. It now aims to count 385 Beauty Success stores in 2020, compared to 320 today, 15 to 30 Tanguy parapharmacies in 2020, compared to 5 in late 2015, 135 new Beauty Sisters shops, 80 Beauty Success salons, compared to 6 today, and 250 Esthetic Center salons and Beauty Full Nails corners, compared to 170 right now.
And to help drive this growth, all Beauty Success Group brands will be represented at the Franchise Expo show to be held next March 20-23, 2016, at the Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles, in the south of Paris.
Structuring the beauty salon market
Thanks to the purchase of the Esthetic Center network, Beauty Success can now also reinforce their interest in the beauty salon market, which undoubtedly represents a significant growth opportunity for the company, in particular as perfume and cosmetics selective brands are struggling.
With 11,000 beauty salons and few large chain stores, the French beauty care market is actually much less concentrated than perfumery. At the same time, women’s expectations in terms of service quality are likely to get stronger. “One of our objectives is to enhance and homogenize our quality standards in this sector, while diversifying our services,” explains Philippe Georges, President of Beauty Success Group. But to this end, we will need to review the positioning of the Beauty Success salons, so that they are actually complementary to the Esthetic Center offering. “Both concepts are already quite different, though,” Philippe Georges adds. “Esthetic center is specialized in services without appointment, and their salons look much less like stores than Beauty Success salons.”
A new brand: Beauty Sisters
Another crucial phase of development for the group was the launching of Beauty Sisters, a brand whose first shop will open at the end of March in Bordeaux, France. “The concept was designed for 25-year-old young women as a blog-store highly connected to social networks and involving many services as well as new products,” Philippe Georges explains.
The offering will be focused on the Beauty Success private brand and enhanced by the company’s makeup artist and models. The small stores (the first one to open will spread across 80 m2) will mainly feature makeup, but also skincare products, accessories, and perfumes, while regularly showcasing new launches.
Of course, the idea is to meet new consumer expectations, although the group will not be content with simply following the example of the Kiko or Les Bellista concepts: it intends to offer more of a high-end experience.
International development
Ultimately, the 2016-2020 development plan also comprises a significant international part. Beauty Success Group seeks to increase the share of its international business up to 10%, compared to 5% today.
With the purchase of the Esthetic Center network, Beauty Success Group is now able to settle in Switzerland. In addition, the group will keep developing in Africa, in partnership with CFAO. 21 Beauty Success stores are scheduled to open in West Africa. The very first one, opened in Abidjan in December 2015, has already achieved one of the highest turnovers of the shopping mall managed by CFAO. “We are also going to suggest our other brands to our partner, CFAO. But nothing has been decided yet, we have no limit, and Africa is not our only international prospect,” Philippe Georges affirms.
Indeed, Beauty Success Group will take part in the Cosmoprof show in Bologna, Italy, to represent the Beauty Sisters brand and promote its own private brand.
