Naghi Group, L'Oreal join hands to boost Saudi cosmetic market 

(MENAFN - Arab News) Mohamed Yusuf Naghi Group (MYNG) and L'Oreal announced the signing of a joint venture agreement to inaugurate L'Oreal KSA on beauty category and market yesterday at Park Hyatt hotel in Jeddah.

Representing L'Oreal Group, Executive Vice-President of Africa and Middle East Geoff Skingley said that "The aim of the joint venture is to develop a global market for nutritional supplements for cosmetic purposes.

The plan is to boost Saudi cosmetic market and double the sales by 2015, through L'Oreal's 20 locations and 13 warehouse in the Kingdom," said Skingley.

"These nutritional supplements, resulting from research, are intended to improve the quality of skin, hair and nails by supplying nutrients essential to their structure. Our passion to achieve excellence, innovation and prosperity,." he added

Mohamed Yusuf Naghi, MYNG chairman, spoke about enriching Saudi retail market by inaugurating new cosmetic market with the purpose of boosting Saudization, employing more Saudi women, and supporting SMEs.

"Our priority is to achieve Saudization among our branches, enable women to work in Saudi beauty sector and boost SMEs at the same time," he said.

He added, "We have further programs to boost SMEs and launch more initiatives in the Saudi community. We believe that our role in CSR is essential, which is why we are planning to establish an academy to train young Saudis, pharmacists, and experts in the beauty field," said Mohamed Yusuf Naghi.

Arab News have had an exclusive interview with Skingley in which he stressed on the importance of gross domestic product. "GDP is an important issue, as it affects cosmetic sales.

But the growth, and the size of population are far more important factors for us, because we need to know the potential number of consumers in Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia there are large numbers of consumers as well as strong GDP.

This is why we are looking forward to double our sales during the next three years," he said.

When asked about L'Oreal and MYNG future plans concerning the opening of a new cosmetic market in Saudi Arabia to match the high purchasing power on major beauty and skin care products, Skingley said that L'Oreal KSA has two main aims.

"The first is to go deeper in Saudi market and reach more women in salons, pharmacies, stores and towns, because till today L'Oreal touches only a certain segment of Saudi women," he said.

The second priority, according to Skingley, is to increase the number of available products. He stressed that L'Oreal always care about the quality guarantee, which is why they produce their products in their own factories.

He also stressed that such a strategy could help L'Oreal to avoid having counterfeit goods. "All of our products are healthy and trustworthy," he said.

Skingley stressed that the new Saudi generation became more concern about having healthy-cosmetic products. Getting access to such products depends on the marketing strategy in salons, pharmacies, and malls.

"Cosmetic sales in Saudi Arabia are not affected by inflation, rather they are affected by lack of consumer education.

The important step is to enable more Saudi women and men to try beauty products and to know how these products react to hair, skin, and how to achieve a unique look.

I think we have a big task before our hands, that is to educate Saudi women as best we can through direct contact and Internet, then comes the objective to raise our sales rate," he said.

The trend and growth of cosmetic market in Saudi Arabia is constant and accelerating. Therefore, Skingley believes that there are big opportunities for women to own their salon and beauty business.

"Involving more working Saudis in cosmetic marketing, pharmacies and salons is really possible. However, L'Oreal has a very good experience worldwide, and we can boost cosmetic market in Saudi Arabia too," said Skingley.

L'Oreal is launching special products for Saudi women, which is why Saudi market will be enriched with the newest products. "We take in consideration three main elements: clients, customers and physical differences among users," he said.

Retails in Saudi Arabia is already moving, and distribution now is more organized. Marketing opportunities are now expanding as well, where we prefer to be good partners to maximize the health and beauty environment in Saudi Arabia, said Skingley.