Brand News
20 April
L’Oréal posts 13% growth in Q1 as beauty continues to shine
The world's largest beauty company is benefitting from a market-wide shift toward wellness.

Photo by Evangeline Sarney on Unsplash
The world's largest beauty company is benefitting from a market-wide shift toward wellness.
L’Oréal offered a sign that beauty is continuing to radiate in an otherwise tough retail market to start 2023.
The world’s largest cosmetics and beauty company posted sales growth of 13% like-for-like for the first quarter of the year. According to the company's earnings report, growth came in all divisions, paced by 30.6% year-over-year growth in dermatological beauty, and 14.7% growth in consumer products.
In North America, L’Oréal grew 16.6%, with consumer products innovation at Maybelline New York, L’Oréal Paris, and Garnier providing a lift.
“Boosted by valorised innovations in all divisions and the engagement of our teams around the world, L’Oréal has outperformed the market in all geographic zones and strengthened its leadership position,” said CEO Nicolas Hieronimus, in a statement. “This performance, which has yet to benefit from China’s reopening, demonstrates the strength of L’Oréal’s balanced multipolar model.
L’Oréal’s performance arrives as the beauty market continues to post strong results, despite a consumer pullback in other consumer categories amid inflation. Instead of seeking out less expensive products, consumers in this category are trading up, as prestige beauty sales growth to $27 billion in revenue outpaced mass beauty, according to Circana (formerly IRI and NPD Group). It appears the lipstick index is trending toward luxe.
“For many consumers, beauty is indispensable,” said Larissa Jensen, beauty industry advisor at Circana, in a statement. “In fact, among beauty shoppers who reported reducing their overall spending due to inflation, seven out of ten said they were not cutting back on their beauty spending. On the contrary, consumers have shown us that when economic sentiment gets shaky, they turn to prestige beauty products for an emotional lift. This ‘treat mindset’ is a big piece of what ties the complete beauty industry picture together.”
On the company’s earnings call, Hieronimus said beauty products are increasingly being embraced beyond occasions, and moving toward wellness. Fragrance is now an every day product, as opposed to one that is used for going out on Saturday night, he said. Jensen said fragrance is being tapped by consumers for “self care,” whether to lift their mood, de-stress or energize. Skincare products also have multiple uses, from aging to daily UV protection.
“We are lucky to be in this market where people are spending money to take care of themselves, not just to feel good but also to protect their skin, their hair,” Hieronimus said. “That’s what makes me confident that the beauty markets will continue to grow.”
L’Oréal is seeking to continue its gains by adding new brands to its portfolio. The results arrive on the heels of the announcement that L’Oréal will be acquiring the luxe brand Aesop from Natura & Co. for $2.5 billion. When the deal was announced, Hieronimus called the brand a “superb combination of urbanity, hedonism and undeniable luxury.”
"Mindful of the current uncertainties, we remain optimistic about the outlook for the beauty market, ambitious for the future and confident in our ability to keep outperforming the market and achieve another year of growth in sales and profits in 2023," said Hieronimus.
On the Move has the latest hiring update from The Vitamin Shoppe and At Home.
Heidi O’Neill has a new role at Nike. (Courtesy photo)
This week, Unilever, Nike and BigCommerce are seeing major transitions in the executive ranks. Meanwhile, The Vitamin Shoppe named a permanent CEO, and At Home brought on a longtime Walmart executive as president.
Conny Braams. (Courtesy photo)
Consumer goods giant Unilever announced key changes in top leadership roles. These include:
Graeme Pitkethly will retire as chief financial officer, effective at the end of May 2024. The board is set to launch a formal search for his successor. Pitkethly has been with Unilever for 21 years.
Conny Braams, who serves as chief digital and commercial officer, will leave the company, effective August 2023. Braams previously held senior management roles including Executive Vice President (EVP) of Middle Europe; and EVP Foodsolutions Asia, Africa and Middle East.
Craig Williams. (Courtesy photo)
Nike, Inc. announced several key leadership changes focused on consumer-led growth and marketplace. They are as follows:
Heidi O’Neill who is currently president of consumer and marketplace, will become president of consumer, product and brand.
Craig Williams, who is currently president of the Jordan Brand, will become president of geographies and marketplace at Nike, Inc.
Matthew Friend, EVP and Chief Financial Officer at NIKE, Inc., will expand responsibilities to include procurement, global places and services and demand and supply management.
Jared Carver will serve as CEO of Converse. Over the last four years, he served as VP/GM of North America for Converse.
Scott Uzzell, the previous CEO of Converse, transitioned to a new role as VP/GM, North America for Nike, Inc.
“These shifts will allow us to streamline our focus across product, brand storytelling and marketplace, mining deep consumer insights to deliver breakthrough innovation and engagement, while building long-term growth and profitability,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe, in a statement.
Lee Wright. (Courtesy photo)
Lee A. Wright was named CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe on a permanent basis, after serving as interim CEO since January 2023. Wright previously served as Chief Commercial Officer of Franchise Group and in executive roles at Conn’s.
Muriel Gonzalez was promoted to president of the retailer, after serving as EVP and chief merchandising and marketing officer of The Vitamin Shoppe since August 2020.
BigCommerce announced the following leadership roles:
Daniel Lentz was promoted to chief financial officer of BigCommerce, effective July 1. He previously served as SVP of finance and investor relations. Lentz will succeed CFO Robert Alvarez, who is retiring after a 12-year stint as CFO.
Chuck Cassidy was promoted to general counsel, effective June 2. Cassidy previously served as VP and associate general counsel. He will succeed Jeff Mengoli, who is retiring.
Hubert Ban was named chief accounting officer. He will replace Vice President of Accounting and Principal Accounting Officer Thomas Aylor, who departed the ecommerce platform on May 19.
Jeff Evans. (Courtesy photo)
Jeff Evans was named president and chief merchandising officer of At Home, the home goods retailer.
Evans previously served as EVP of entertainment, toys and seasonal at Walmart, managing the largest general merchandise business for the retailer. He rose to the position after serving in executive roles at Walmart US and Sam’s Club.