From an Abandoned Soap Factory in Provence to the HKSE

Speaker Series: André J. Hoffmann, Executive Director of L’Occitane & Head of Asia-Pacific

Evening Reception, Monday, 11 March 2013, 18:30-20:30 pm, Club Lusitano

The Unknown Story of Asia’s Favorite “Affordable Luxury with the Unpronounceable Name” & How Outside Investors Almost Destroyed and then Rescued L’Occitane from RuinWhat’s the Fuss?

Event Details:
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong is pleased to invite you to an evening cocktail, canapés and discussion with André Hoffmann, one of the architects of the L’Occitane success story, board member & head of its Asia Pacific operations.

The L’Occitane “beauty” story is well-known, if extraordinary.  How a small company founded in a disused soap factory in Manosque, Provence, France went on to become one of the world’s most successful retailers of beauty, skin and home products in the world, bringing its message of Mediterranean well-being to the world.

Less-well known is the L’Occitane business story. Founded in 1986, the initial sale of L’Occitane to outside investors in the 1990s not only failed to take the Company to new heights, it almost led to its undoing. The founder, Olivier Baussan, departed and, after 18 years of existence, it only had three stores. The firm was on verge of bankruptcy.

The subsequent 1994 purchase of initially 33% of the company by Austrian Reinold Geiger (increasing to a majority stake in 1996), however, led to the return of Baussan as creative director and, with the company’s new focus on marketing, paved the way for its international expansion, later strategic tie-up with Clarins and ultimate 2010 listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange – the first French firm to do so, and the second non-Asian company.

L’Occitane’s key insight was to focus on Asia, first, along the way re-writing the rules of retail in such markets as Japan (where products are sold outside of the dominant department store system).  The result: A retailer with twice the net margins of Tiffany & Co.  Today, the Company sells its products in more than 80 countries through 1,500 retail locations, with 50% of its sales from Asia-Pacific.

André Hoffmann’s role in the above has been critical. Hoffmann led L’Occitane’s “Go East” strategy, for which so much of the Company’s success is due, today, following his becoming L’Occitane’s Asian distributor just after Geiger’s own initial stake in the Company.

We are very fortunate to welcome André to the Stanford GSB Chapter of HK and are looking forward to his thoughts on where L’Occitane and Affordable Luxury go from here.

Speaker’s Bio: André J. Hoffmann
Executive Director & Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, L’Occitane