THE COMPANY WHO KEEPS DIGITAL IN THE HEART
Could you tell our readers about yourself and the new generation L’Oréal?
“Actually, I am a professional who does not have much to do with cosmetics. After studying Electronic Engineering at Koç University, I met with L’Oréal after an internship. I was very interested in the dynamism, ability to take responsibility quickly, speed and leadership here, and I have drawn a beautiful career journey within this structure for 13 years.
I have been the General Manager of the Luxe Division of L’Oréal for 1 year. This division consists of an amazing portfolio of brands such as Lancôme, YSL Beauty, Armani, Kiehl’s, Prada, Valentino. We work on perfume, skin care and make-up categories. My story started with marketing; Afterwards, my career journey continued by getting richer with sales, e-commerce and retail. After working as the Marketing and E-commerce director in the European Region of our Armani brand at the Paris headquarters between 2018-2020, I returned to the country and took over this beautiful division.
For us at L’Oréal, beauty is a meaningful purpose, a force that helps people express themselves. We are aware of the responsibility that comes with providing beauty. We embrace the beauty of the world by fighting climate change, protecting natural resources and respecting biodiversity. As the L’Oréal’ Luxe division, we lead innovation and transformation with our timeless perspective. We are a company with digital at its heart and we call ourselves a beauty-tech company. E-commerce accounts for half of our business. We are carrying out pioneering projects in luxury cosmetics with our local brand business partners in digital.”
What about your product ranges?
“We have three main categories: make-up, perfume and skin care. The perfume category accounts for half of our business. This category is very valuable to us as it enables us to establish a special bond with our consumers and accompany their memories and experiences. We have iconic perfumes such as Libre, Sì, La vie est belle, Acqua di Gio that have proven their success in the industry. We are responding to the increasing interest in the niche category with our Le Vestiaire Des Parfums line at YSL and Privé line at Armani.”
“THERE IS NO ONE TYPE OF BEAUTY PERCEPTION FOR L’ORÉAL”
You are a company that offers personalized beauty work by combining the diversity of wishes, desires and traditions. What kind of working mentality do you adopt to ensure this process?
“It is very important for us to provide personal experiences to our consumers in terms of luxury. There is no uniform perception of beauty at L’Oréal, inclusivity and diversity are at the core of everything we do. We try to respond to all different requests and expectations so that everyone can be in the version they feel best in, and we offer personalized experiences with our portfolio of strong brands. There is an extensive research & development process and a large technological investment behind our products.
Lancôme and Kiehl’s offer their customers the chance to choose products based on skin analysis. YSL enables users to create their own personalized lipsticks with its Rouge Sur Mesure smart device. After users try the tone they want with the artificial intelligence supported application, they design the lipstick they want thanks to the device. We are very happy to embrace all colors and all skin types with our products.”
When considering your target audience, are only women interested in cosmetic products in Turkey? What do you think about this subject?
“We can predict that most of our consumers are women, but especially in the perfume category, 40% of our customers are men and men have a great interest in our brands. We are also moving towards a point where gender loses its importance in perfume preference, and many scents are now available to everyone. The interest in men’s skin care is also increasing, and we are meeting the expectations of our consumers with our Biotherm and Kiehl’s brands.”
100 MILLION EURO DONATION FUND ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATURAL ECOSYSTEM AND THE CYCLICAL ECONOMY
We know that L’Oréal has been paying attention to its Sustainability studies for years. So, have the targets set since then been achieved?
“Since 2005, we have reduced the CO2 emissions of our production facilities and distribution centers by 81% by increasing energy efficiency and using local renewable energy in the fight against climate change. 59% of the ingredients of our products are of vegetable origin. Beyond the transformation in our business model, we want to support the environmental and social problems facing the world. As the leader of the beauty industry, we must contribute to society and fulfill our responsibilities. For this reason, L’Oréal allocates €100 million to investments dedicated to the renewal of natural ecosystems and the development of the circular economy, and €50 million to support women in extremely difficult circumstances. With the Solidarity Sourcing program, we also care about the source of the materials we use, and we support our suppliers for better agricultural practices and working conditions.
We launched our first sustainable development program in 2013, and since then the world has changed and global warming and environmental changes have become more risky than we’ve ever seen before. Realizing that we need stronger commitments, we strengthened our sustainability development plan, which we plan to realize until 2030. By 2025, we will use 100% renewable energy at all L’Oréal factories. By 2030, 100% of the plastics used in L’Oréal products will be from recycled or bio-based sources. By 2030, 100% of our bio-based ingredients and packaging materials will come from sustainable sources.”
How is L’Oréal following the path to win the so-called next generation Generation Z?
“At L’Oréal, we allocate a large budget to consumer research in order to listen and understand the consumer, and we carry out product development studies by listening to these research results. We determine our communication models by observing their behavior on social platforms. We try new content models on platforms preferred by Generation Z, such as Tiktok. For us, being at L’Oréal is an endless journey of learning. With our try & learn perspective, we try different communication models and discover the best employee for our target audience.”
“THE VALUABLE STORIES BEHIND THE FRAGRANCE”
What are your thoughts about the MG International Fragrance Summit, which was held for the first time this year?
“MG Group has been our partner for many years. As two big companies operating in Turkey, we both carry out sectoral activities together and share the magic of the perfume and fragrance world with our teams.
With this organization, MG kicked off an amazing industry appointment. With the combination of local and international giant companies and expertise, a great experience and sharing energy emerged. Fragrance is a very magical formation, there are very valuable stories behind it. It was a pleasure for all of us to tell this to those who love us. I wish it was traditional.”
