Premium Beauty News - What’s Aptar Beauty’s line of conduct in the current beauty market’s situation?
Marc Prieur - The Group’s strategy has not changed. We have recently reconfirmed three pillars for the next five years. The first one consists in focusing on our core business, i.e. dispensing, which accounts for 99% of our revenue. We boast one of the broadest portfolios on the market: it covers not only beauty, perfume, skincare, and makeup, but also the whole personal care category – a fast-growing segment. We intend to maintain a strong presence in the dispensing sector, with a broad range of diverse technical solutions that meet all these markets’ needs.
The second pillar is innovation. Over the past four years, we have readjusted our innovation pipeline to deliver both sustainable and disruptive solutions. Through our regional innovation centres in France, Brazil, New York City, and Shanghai, we have developed a co-creation process with our customers to quickly satisfy their needs. For us, innovation involves organising skills and opportunities all around the world.
Thirdly, we combine finance with operational agility. Following a few reorganisations, we have adopted a continuous improvement approach. We now invest in our plants to enhance our agility and efficiency. The market has become highly volatile: ten years ago, order books were stable, whereas today, everything is decided in the short term.
Premium Beauty News - How are you making progress with your development strategy?
Marc Prieur - We serve markets on the global scale with a local-for-local approach. We have a robust regional industrial base on the key continents, which is rather unique. Now we aim to broaden our scope of action and deliver in more countries, for more customers.
In Latin America, we are already well-established in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, but we can better use this base to expand our customer portfolio. Likewise, in Asia, apart from China, India, and Thailand, where we already boast a strong presence, there are real opportunities to seize in South-East Asia, in particular in Vietnam. The idea is to enter fast-growing markets.
This growth can be organic, by expanding our local capacities and teams, but it can also be achieved through acquisitions, as we have recently done with 7M in Turkey. This industrial and commercial base will help target the Middle East and Africa, which we also aspire to enter.
Naturally, we are also looking to broaden our customer portfolio, by relying on these regional ecosystems. Thanks to the changes implemented over the past years, we can serve an increasing number of customers in an increasing number of geographical areas.
Ultimately, our strategy is designed to achieve profitable growth, between 3 and 6%, despite the ever-changing market.
Premium Beauty News - You have recently launched the Nomad Refill innovation for perfumes. What is innovation focused on within the Group?
Marc Prieur - All innovations by Aptar Beauty boast sustainability assets now, whether it be through refills, recycling, or recycled materials. It is a key part of our approach. We are also working to gradually convert our existing range of dispensing systems to monomaterial or recyclable solutions, or products made from recycled materials. All our product lines will switch towards recyclable solutions in the four years to come. It is a huge challenge, because they should remain compatible with our customers’ filling lines.
We have also observed two underlying trends on which we will be working. First, customisation: it helps brands stand out. We have created Custom, an ecosystem which makes it possible to develop customised products on a large, industrial scale. We have also noted the dermocosmetics growth, at the intersection between beauty and pharmaceuticals: this segment boasts a growth rate higher than the market’s average. As a matter of fact, we have a unique offering with our two divisions, Pharma and Beauty. So, for us, this trend is essential.
Premium Beauty News - How do you think the market will evolve, overall?
Marc Prieur - Beauty markets essentially remain global, but there is an increasingly strong regional trend growing with significant variations from one region to another. Therefore, it is crucial to both see the big picture and have a profound local understanding with adapted answers when it comes to trends, innovation, and production. This is one of the Group’s main strengths.
In addition, there is a fragmentation, as small and medium-sized brands emerge, in particular in China and North & Latin America. They are gradually gaining market shares from multinationals. So, our role is to serve all customers, big and small, and support them from day one, because some of them will be tomorrow’s key players.
Premium Beauty News - Looking to the future, how confident are you?
Marc Prieur - The market has never been so uncertain, so it is crucial to adapt. As a matter of fact, the name Aptar comes from the Latin word aptare, which means to adapt. We are a robust group: we can support our customers in the long term. Our strength lies in combining a broad portfolio, strong regional presence, a renowned innovation capacity, and solid financial foundations. That definitely makes a difference in an unstable world.
