Even in the mass market range, which includes L'Oreal Paris, the firm plans to embrace the natural trend. Garnier is a brand that traditionally uses as many natural ingredients as is safely possible, and a US$59 million global advertising campaign is repositioning the brand in the market with a new slogan: "Take Care."
Patricia Pineau, communication director for L'Oreal's research division, claims the company's researchers had identified the potential of natural products 20 years ago but consumer demand was not forthcoming, and the idea was rejected at the marketing level. "We were 20 years too early; when we put forward a cream made from plants, it did not interest anyone."
She says 40 percent of L'Oreal's products are already derived from natural ingredients but rather than create a whole new brand to respond to the trend, the company decided to acquire other companies — the Body Shop and Sanoflore — that were established in that area and already had a following.
Bone said: "One of the positive things for L'Oreal regarding the Body Shop acquisition is the way that L'Oreal can grow the market by leveraging existing branded products with well-established wellness connotations rather than focusing on creating new brands under the L'Oreal name.
"After all, L'Oreal products are not associated with having particularly strong natural credentials and may well be rejected as a result. In contrast, Body Shop-branded products ooze and exude natural far more than a typical L'Oreal brand or many other mass market brands for that matter."
In short, experts agree that this year should be an active year in the natural cosmetic industry. "The growth rate says it all," said Amarjit Sahota, director of Organic Monitor. "The conventional cosmetic market is stagnating, whereas the natural cosmetic market is growing at a rate of about 20 percent a year."
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