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 The French company, the world's biggest maker of skincare and beauty
products, said on Wednesday the new range based on ingredients such
as henna would be aimed at professionals for use in salons across
Europe from May 2018.
The organic cosmetics boom has been driven by rising numbers of
younger consumers rejecting chemical-based products in favor of
plant-based ones.
The natural and organic beauty market was worth around $11 billion
worldwide in 2016, consultants Ernst & Young said, adding that it
was likely to double by 2024.
L'Oreal believes the natural beauty market already stands at 24
billion euros ($28.2 billion) and is growing at 12 percent a year,
said Marion Brunet, manager of L'Oreal Professional, one of the
brands within the professional division that caters to salons.
"There's very strong demand from women to move towards healthier
formulas," Brunet said, adding that a branch of cosmetics that used
to be the preserve of more militant "green" consumers 15 to 20 years
ago had spread across society.
The vegan range, called Botanea, is sourced from three plants found
in India and is not available for mass market consumption yet, as
the different shades need to be mixed to measure.
Revenue growth at L'Oreal - founded almost 100 years ago by a
chemist as a hair dye company - has benefited from a make-up boom in
the age of "selfies" on social media, while its luxury brands such
as Lancome are also doing well.
But its professional products division has lagged, however, with
like-for-like sales growth down 0.3 percent in the nine months to
September, while other areas including the smaller active cosmetics
business, which caters to dermatological conditions, expanded.
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L'Oreal, which spent 3.3 percent of its 26 billion euros ($30.6
billion) in sales last year on research, rivals large groups such as
Estee Lauder.
But small start-ups in skincare and beauty have acquired visibility
and are reaching a greater audience through online sales and
marketing in recent years.
L'Oreal sold The Body Shop earlier this year to Brazil's Natura
Cosmeticos, after the label, one of the pioneers in the field of
natural-based cosmetics, struggled against rising competition.
($1 = 0.8512 euros)
(Corrects paragraph 5 to reflect that Brunet does not run entire
division but a brand)
(Reporting by Sarah White; editing by Richard Lough, Louise Heavens
and David Evans)
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