Germany
www.beiersdorf.com

Sales: $6.2 billion

Corporate sales: $8.0 billion

Key personnel
Vincent Warnery, chief executive officer; Astrid Hermann, executive board member, finance; Thomas Ingelfinger, executive board member, Europe (excluding Germany and Switzerland); Zhengrong Liu, executive board member, human resources and Greater China/Northeast Asia; Ramon A. Mirt, executive board member, Emerging Markets; Patrick Rasquinet, executive board member, pharmacy & selective; Harald Emberger, executive committee member, corporate senior vice president, supply chain; Dr. Gitta Neufang, executive board member, corporate senior vice president, research & development

Major products
Skin care: Nivea, Eucerin, La Prairie, Labello, Florena, 8x4, Atrix, Aquaphor, Hidrofugal, Gammon. Hair care: Slek and Maestro

New products
Nivea 48hr Deep Nourishing Moisture; Eucerin Eczema Relief cream body wash, Eucerin Actinic Control SPF 100, Eucerin Hyaluron Filler + Elasticity 3D Serum; O.W.N. personalized skin care

Comments: Corporate sales fell 8.2% last year; consumer product sales dropped 5.7%. The declines didn’t stop the company from investing in its C.A.R.E.+ initiative. As reported in Happi, the C.A.R.E.+ program comprises five strategic priorities:

• Accelerate the presence in white spots and new business areas;
• Strengthen skin care categories of the portfolio;
• Step up digitalization, from consumer engagement to business processes;
• Improve productivity gains to fuel growth; and
• Make Social and environment commitment that truly benefits people.

As for last year, Beiersdorf noted the sales decline was cushioned by the strong performance in the derma business with the Eucerin and Aquaphor brands. Here, Beiersdorf recorded year-on-year organic sales growth of 8.3%, with double-digit growth rates in North America, Latin America and Asia. According to Beiersdorf, the global skin care market declined in 2020, some months saw a double-digit drop, due to the coronavirus pandemic. So it’s no surprise to learn that Nivea’s sales fell 6% in 2020. Yet, the brand maintained its strong overall position worldwide in all categories and gained additional market share in over half of countries.

The pandemic wreaked havoc with prestige skin care brand, La Prairie. Organic sales fell 23.9% due to significantly reduced travel and the resulting fall in sales in the important travel retail business. Despite sales recovering for a time in the course of the year and double-digit growth in China, the brand was unable to match its strong prior-year figures. With the recent launch of La Prairie at Tmall, Beiersdorf expects to further strengthen the brand’s presence in this key market.

E-commerce sales rose 50% across the Group. Sales were helped by new digital innovations such as the Nivea Skin Guide web app. The company also invested in its global research and development network with a new innovation center in Shanghai, boosting local expertise in the strategically important Asia region. In addition to La Prairie, Nivea and Eucerin sales rose in China.

In December, teamed up with Sabic to create renewable plastics for mass-market cosmetics packaging. The material, which debuts this year, is made of certified, renewable polypropylene from Sabic’s Trucircle portfolio.
Earlier this year,  Beiersdorf launched O.W.N., a personalized skin care brand that includes facial cleanser, and day and night creams. O.W.N uses artificial intelligence and is built around a proprietary algorithm that combines 140 years of skin care expertise and consumer knowledge. As a result, O.W.N. selects the single best unique product offering out of 380,000 formula combinations. The products are only available at www.ownskincare.eu, where consumers fill out a questionnaire to determine which care formula is best suited to their skin.

For the first quarter of 2021, group sales rose 6.3% driven, primarily by demand for Tesa adhesives. The consumer business was up 2.7%, on the strength of the skin care business.

In May, Vincent Warnery was appointed chief executive officer. He replaced Stefan De Loecker. Warnery, 52,  has been a member of Beiersdorf’s executive board since February 2017 and was previously responsible for the pharmacy & selective division with the Eucerin, Hansaplast and La Prairie brands as well as the North American business. Warnery has spent his entire professional life in the consumer health care and cosmetic industry. He started his career in marketing at Procter & Gamble in 1991. In 1996 he joined L’Oréal where he successively held various marketing positions as well as local and regional general management positions in Portugal, Germany, Latin America, Japan and France. In 2011, he moved to Sanofi where he developed and led the global consumer health care division until 2017. He then joined Beiersdorf where he took the responsibility for the pharmacy and selective brands (La Prairie, Eucerin, Hansaplast) and since 2020 the overall responsibility of Beiersdorf North America.

In a related move, Patrick Rasquinet was appointed head of Beiersdorf’s pharmacy and selective division on July 1. Rasquinet will also join Beiersdorf’s executive board. The move follows the appointment of Warnery to chief executive officer of Beiersdorf on May 1.

Last month, the company said it will build a state-of-the-art hub for the European market in Leipzig, near the company’s new production plant. This would be the company’s largest investment worldwide at a single location.