Melvita focuses on worldwide expansion

What Melvita has achieved in 25 years in France is now to be rolled out across the globe. The natural cosmetics company, that has its headquarters in the Ardèche region of France, is not only intent on conquering the market in Germany but has recently been hard at work in a number of countries worldwide too. Its model is the cosmetics firm L’Occitane, that is a success story par excellence and, since the middle of 2008, the parent company to which Melvita now belongs.
(Picture: New Melvita boutique in Zagreb/Croatia)
While Melvita operates strictly according to the organic criteria of the French association Cosmébio, L’Occitane is guided by the principle of natural inputs in its selection of raw materials with its use of herbs from Provence, although only 8 % of its ingredients are from controlled organic production (or we could say that at least it has managed to achieve 8 %).
(Picture on left: L’Occitane specialist shop)

Both L’Occitane and Melvita have performed impressively in recent years, with Melvita achieving a turnover of 18.5 million euros and L’Occitane 537 million euros in 2008. Where L’Occitane is ahead of Melvita is in expanding its business in Europe and the rest of the world, for which a firm foundation was created with the amalgamation of the two companies in the summer of 2008. When the restructuring took place, the founder of Melvita, Bernard Chevilliat, had no intention of stepping aside, and he has remained the managing director of Melvita and has also become a consultant to L’Occitane in product development. According to Organic Monitor’s study “The French Market for Natural Personal Care Products 2008”, Melvita is the leading manufacturer in France and one of the leaders in the overall market (see graphic).

L’Occitane, the cosmetics company based in Provence, began developing its chain in 2004 with the launch of four shops in Germany. “ Now we’ve got 24 boutiques,” says Dejan Loncaric, the managing director of the company in Germany that has its headquarters in Düsseldorf. As well as the attractive natural products, the stylish brand presentation in L’Occitane shops has probably played an important role. In the boutiques, the perfect Provence image is communicated with the help of antique-look furniture, olive and lemon motifs and themes capturing the essence of Provence. And what proves popular in Francophile circles in Munich, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Wertheim in Germany also brings success in other countries and regions of the world, above all in Japan. (Picture: New Melvita boutique in Slovenia)

The first Melvita boutique is scheduled to open in Karlsruhe in March 2010. By 2013, there could be around a dozen across the whole of Germany. Melvita now produces 250 articles that are sold in specialist stores. In the south of France, the company already has four stores of its own. It launched its first specialist shops abroad in Croatia in April 2009 and in Slovenia in June 2009. In December 2009 a new store was opened in Hong Kong, and in January 2010 there will be a new opening in Istanbul. In February 2010 the first boutique will be opened in the USA, and it will be followed by two more in March. (Picture on right: Provence style in L’Occitane specialist shop)

Melvita’s turnover in France derives from sales in around 500 chemists, 2,000 wholefood stores and its own four shops in the south of the country. The company employs 250 people. Melvita is represented in ten countries and exports products to Canada, USA, Korea, Switzerland, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Finland, Denmark, Greece and Cyprus.

In Germany, where Melvita entered the market in November 2009, the company is focusing on the specialist trade, but not at the total exclusion of the conventional retail trade. Its target is 50 – 100 wholefood stores by 2011, rising to 400 – 600 by 2013. They are thinking along similar lines for chemist shops too. Around ten department stores will be added to these, followed in a second phase by another 25 outlets. To make their launch as easy as possible for the specialist retail trade, Melvita is offering three different ranges with 60, 80 and 120 articles comprising a compilation of selected top sellers from the total product range. (Picture on left: Melvita in Zagreb)

Melvita’s total product range consists of 250 articles manufactured from more than 580 natural ingredients. The comprehensive range consists of body and hair care, fragrances, face care, bee products and food supplements. The categories with the highest turnover are face care (25 %), body care (16 %), hygiene (9 %), hair care (18 %) and oils (8 %). The best sellers are the rich hand cream, NATURALIFT ®Anti-Ageing Cream for the face and the personal hygiene gel. About a third of the products are based on bee products like propolis, royal jelly, pollen or honey. The power of bee products is seen particularly in food supplements.

If we consider the development of the company, we find that in 1977 the biologist Bernard Chevilliat moved to the Ardèche region of France, where he founded an apiary. In 1983, he created the Melvita brand with a range consisting mainly of processed bee products. He quickly realised that he would not achieve much with just keeping bees, so in 1991 he launched his first organic and natural cosmetics line. In 2002, his company was one of the first to join the Cosmébio association, that Chevilliat played a big part in founding. Melvita was one of the first companies to be certified organic by Ecocert. In 2009/2010 the company headquarters, built to ecological standards, are being extended (doubled in size) for the fifth time since 1983.
(Picture above: Part of the Melvita range)

Melvita is particularly committed to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and Fair Trade. The company sources shea butter from a project in Burkina Faso, and in France it supports Colibris, an organisation founded by the eco-activist Pierre Rabhi.

Since the autumn of 2009, Mareike von Postel has been responsible for marketing Melvita in Germany. Before this job, she worked in New York as marketing manager for Weleda in the USA. Back home again, she coordinates Melvita activities from the L’Occitane office in Düsseldorf. This involves working closely with the parent company. Sebastian Mercier is in charge of sales. (picture: founder Bernard Chevilliat and Mathieu Spies, manager of international expansion)

L’Occitane was founded in 1976 by Olivier Baussan. The fragrance of honeysuckle, olive trees and lavender experienced during his childhood in Provence left a lasting impression. Sensuousness, authenticity and respect for people, nature and resources are his guiding principles, and they have helped to raise his company to unimagined heights. With turnover having risen to 53 million euros a year by 2000, it then increased by a factor of ten(!) to 537 million euros in 2008 – in other words, turnover of more than half a billion euros a year. The company’s products are sold in department stores, perfumeries and now in approximately 1,300 boutiques, of which a little over half belong to the company itself. The rest are run as franchise shops and belong to their owners. Sales in Europe and Asia each account for 22 % of turnover, in Japan for 25 % and in the USA for 17 %, with the other countries where L’Occitane has a presence contributing 14 %. Managing director in Germany Dejan Loncaric is proud to be able to say: “L’Occitane doesn’t belong to any of the big concerns but is independent and different.”

The vast majority of L’Occitane products are manufactured with raw materials from Provence and Corsica. For example, the 30 ha of immortelle flowers (helichrysum) that are grown organically on Corsica are no longer enough, and the area is to be extended to 50 ha by 2011.

On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, L’Occitane created a foundation with funds of 3 million euros that supports projects in France, Burkina Faso, Brazil and Bangladesh. Two staff look after 29 projects. One of the main issues is the economic emancipation of women in Burkina Faso in West Africa. The project produces soaps, which are 70 % shea butter, packs them and markets them worldwide through L’Occitane. The focus of the foundation in France is on preserving our knowledge of cultivated plants, whereas in Bangladesh it supports a medical project for people with visual impairment. At L’Occitane’s headquarters in Manosque to the south east of Avignon the company has installed a large photovoltaic unit that covers a part of its electricity consumption.

Tip:
www.melvita.com
www.loccitane.com