L'Oreal eyes huge China potential

Global cosmetic giant L'Oreal is setting its sights on cashing in on China's expanding consumer market, currently the world's second-largest with a total volume of 30 trillion yuan ($4.49 billion), to develop the nation into the group's biggest source of business, according to a senior executive.

As the second-largest market after the US for the French company, L'Oreal China generated about 15 billion yuan in revenue in 2015, and is expected to keep the momentum in the coming years as younger generations spend more than their parents on beauty products.

"This is normal concerning the huge China market......the potential is unlimited," said Loic Armand, president of L'Oreal France, the French subsidiary of L'Oreal Group as well the group senior vice-president for institutional affairs.

L'Oreal sells several billion products a year to 1 billion consumers, and the group expects to sell to 2 billion consumers in 15 years, with the extra 1 billion mainly middle-class customers from emerging countries including China.

China is the world's second-largest consumer products market, with a market size of 30 trillion yuan in 2015, according to a Securities Times report. Consumer product demand has seen an annual growth rate of 12 percent between 2013 and 2015.

"Cosmetics are no longer the exclusive products of young women, and a broader population including male and senior people as well as babies and kids require skincare products," said Qi Xiaozhai, director of the Shanghai Commercial Economic Research Center.

According to him, China's ongoing urbanization has created a huge market for consumer products across the nation.

China is the second-largest sales contributor for L'Oreal Group after the US, followed by France and Germany. About 7,000 people work directly for the group in China.