Germany
www.beiersdorf.com

Sales: $6.5 billion for personal care products. Corporate sales: $7.6 billion.

Key Personnel: Stefan F. Heidenreich, chief executive officer, internal audit, Germany, Switzerland and Japan, chairman of the executive board; Stefan De Loecker, executive board member, corporate development, supply chain (purchasing, production, logistics), Near East (incl. Africa, Middle East, India, Turkey, Russia), Americas (North and Latin America); Ralph Gusko, executive board member, consumer brands (brand management consumer, research and development, digital), Asia Pacific (Northeast and Southeast Asia (excl. Japan and India), Australia; Thomas Ingelfinger, executive board member, Europe (excl. Germany, Switzerland); Zhengrong Liu, executive board member, human resources, corporate communications (human resources, corporate communications, sustainability, general services and real estate), labor relations director; Dessi Temperley, executive board member, finance and quality (finance, controlling, legal, compliance, IT, quality assurance); Vincent Warney, executive board member, pharmacy and selective (Eucerin, Plaster, La Prairie).

Major Products: Skin care—Nivea, Eucerin, La Prairie, Labello, Florena, 8x4, Atrix, Aquaphore; Hair care—SLEK and Maestro.

New Products: Nivea Sun Protect & Care, Nivea Q10plusC, Nivea Urban Skin Detox & Protect, Nivea Pure Skin electric face cleansing brush, Nivea Crème & Oil Pearls shower cream range, Eucerin DermoPure, Labellino lip care ball, La Prairie White Caviar Illuminating Pearl Infusion.

Comments: Corporate sales rose 4.5% and consumer sales were up 3.4%. The credit goes, in part, to Beiersdorf’s Blue Agenda business strategy, which was implemented in 2012. Last year, the strategy was expanded with Blue & Beyond, which intends to leverage the potential of Eucerin, La Prairie and Hansaplast (a medical brand), to make them as successful as Nivea which, everyone knows, is the best-selling skin care brand in the world. To achieve that goal, Eucerin, La Prairie and Hansaplast were folded into a single board division last year to increase these brands’ impact and leverage synergy effects.

The moves came during a year when Beiersdorf posted good gains in Asia and Africa. By region, Europe accounted for 50.6% of sales; followed by Africa, Asia and Africa, 30.9% and Americas, 18.5%. Deodorant sales improved due to gains in the UK, Russia and South Africa; but sales declined in face care, due to weakness in Germany, Italy, France and the UK.
Overall, Beiersdorf noted that Nivea improved its market share in India, South Africa and Russia; however, the brand lost share in Italy, Switzerland and Thailand. Specifically, Nivea sales were up on the strength of double-digit gains for Protect & Care, Black & White deodorant, Active Clean and Crème Care, Milk, Pleasure and Nivea Men Crème.

Eucerin generated organic growth of 3.4%, driven by demand with the face and sun categories. Sales were said to be particularly strong in the Argentina, Thailand and Korea.

Regarding hard assets, Beiersdorf built a new production facility in Nigeria, expanded production capabilities in Thailand and expanded production in Brazil. Finally, Beiersdorf began construction of new headquarters in Eimsbüttel in Hamburg. The job is expected to be completed in 2021.

For the first quarter of 2018, group sales rose less than 1% and consumer sales declined less than 1%, though Beiersdorf noted that organic sales rose 6.1%. Nivea sales increased 1.9 %. The Derma business unit, which includes Eucerin and Aquaphor, finished the first quarter with an increase in sales of 8.5%. Finally, sales of La Prairie soared 55.5%.

In May, Beiersdorf announced a partnership with NetEast Kaola, which is billed as China’s leading online platform for cross-border trade. It gives Beiersdorf access to a market that grew more than 80% last year, and the agreement gives Beiersdorf access to more than 900 million users, according to the companies.