I was walking around Shibuya today (my must-visit stores in this area include Cosmekitchen in Hikarie department store, the big Tokyu Hands and, of course, design depato Loft Shibuya!) and saw this interesting example of gender-specific retail: Its’ Demo is a fashion/beauty store chain aimed at an exclusively female demographic.
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
Well, I’m back in Seoul! I’ve only been here for a few days and already spent a lot of time in various beauty stores to check out what’s new in Boons, LOHBS, Olive Young et. al. (you can see some of my finds on Instagram: @annika.trendtraveller – or scroll down the page to the Instagram widget on the left sidebar).
I’ve also been stocking up on some of my favorite Korean and international beauty brands, including the famous Starting Treatment Essence from Korean brand Secret Key, the Skin Soothing Gel from organic US brand A24 which I discovered during my last trip to Seoul; and the Deep Rich Toner from my favorite organic Korean beauty brand, Whamisa!
However, one of the reasons why I came to Seoul was to visit Cosmobeauty 2016 trade show which took place as part of Health & Beauty Week from 28th April to 30th April 2016 in COEX exhibition centre. There were three trade shows actually: Cosmobeauty (retail and salon cosmetics), Organic Industry Expo (organic food) and Health Industry Expo (supplements and lifestyle products).
Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
As promised, here is the brand profile of Andalou Naturals. I discovered this fabulous organic beauty brand last week in the London Piccadilly outlet of US organic retail chain Whole Foods.
Last weekend I attended Natural & Organic Products Europe trade show in London (17th-18th April 2016). The UK’s biggest natural products fair celebrated its 20th anniversary this year; congratulations! I seem to remember visiting Natural & Organic Products Europe back in 2004 or 2005 (at that time, it was still held in Olympia). However, in 2015 the show moved to the ExCel exhibition centre in East London, out in the Docklands, and this is also where this year’s trade fair took place.
According to trade show organisers Diversified Communications, some 650 exhibitors from the organic and natural food, beauty and supplements industry attended NOPE and there were over 9500 visitors. The trade fair was divided into four sections: The Natural Food Show (which accounted for around 50% of the exhibition space), Natural Beauty & Spa (around 25%), Natural Living and Natural Health (also 25%). Since I only had one day at the show, I focused on the C&T part of the trade fair but also found the time to check out some of the food exhibitors – superfoods, coconut products, raw chocolate, dairy/meat substitutes and free-from foods were much in evidence!
In the Beauty and Food sections of the show there were Natural & Organic Awards Europe showcases: visitors could vote for their favourite new product and a panel of judges then decided on the winning entries in 13 categories. In addition there was a conference program of lectures and presentations on various health and beauty topics and the Natural Food Kitchen over in the organic food section featured live cooking demonstrations. Nice!
And here, in no particular order, are some of my favourite beauty discoveries from Natural & Organic Products Europe 2016, starting with the international exhibitors!
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Last weekend I was in Italy to attend the biggest C&T trade show in the world: Cosmoprof Bologna! It was my first time at the Italian version of Cosmoprof; I’ve visited Cosmoprof Asia in Hong Kong (here are my articles about Cosmoprof Asia 2014 and Cosmoprof Asia 2015) but Cosmoprof Bologna is another experience altogether. In three words: it is gigantic!
Cosmoprof Bologna (18th-21st March 2016) took place in conjunction with packaging/ingredients trade show Cosmopack (17th-20th March 2016). With more than 2,500 exhibitors from around the world (73% from outside of Italy), 25 country pavilions, new trade show sections like Cosmoprof Wellness (spa beauty) and the 1st Cosmoprof Barber Show (barbering and beard care), it was a fabulous weekend. Read on for an overview of my favourite brand discoveries!
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Last weekend I was in Düsseldorf to visit Beauty International, Germany’s biggest salon trade show. Beauty International (actually, it is now called Beauty Düsseldorf) celebrated its 25th anniversary last year (here is my show report about Beauty International 2015) and, as always, the trade show took place concurrently with Top Hair (Germany’s biggest hair salon trade show) and Makeup Artist Design Show (makeup artist/professional brands).
It is one of the key dates for the German (and European) salon industry so Düsseldorf’s trade show centre was packed! According to the trade show organizers, 55.000 trade visitors visited the fair from 4th to 6th March. There were 1.500 exhibitors across four halls: Foot Care, Spa & Wellness in Hall 9, Salon C&T in Hall 10 and 11 and Nails in Hall 12. Read on for an overview of my favourite brand launches at this year’s Beauty Düsseldorf trade show!
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Mintel, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Trends
Last week I was in Nuremberg to attend Vivaness, Europe’s biggest organic C&T trade fair. This year, Vivaness celebrated its 10th anniversary; happy birthday! The official trade show statistics speak for themselves: organizers Messe Nuremberg have announced that 48.000 visitors from 132 countries visited Vivaness and its companion trade show Biofach (the world’s biggest organic food show. EVER!), an increase of around 7% compared to 2015.
Altogether there were 2.544 exhibitors from 77 countries at both shows (Vivaness: 245 companies from 33 countries) and you can imagine how busy the trade show centre in Nuremberg was. Biofach/Vivaness always has a fantastic atmosphere: different languages everywhere, people rushing around like mad, exciting new brands to discover and interesting people to talk to…it’s one of my favourite German trade shows.
So let’s dive right in: here are some of my favourite brand discoveries from Vivaness 2016! Also, this article is even longer than my show report on Cosmoprof Hong Kong 2015 – you have been warned.
Filed under Exhibitions, Industry News, Mintel, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
And here is the PDF article of my Cosmoprof Asia 2015 show report for SPC Magazine (SPC Magazine, February 2016 (Vol 89 No 2); copyright: HPCi Media). You can also find the article on www.cosmeticsbusiness.com. Enjoy!
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
Yes, the new edition of OWN has just been published! And I’ve contributed several articles: a brand profile on Fair Squared (p. 16 in the print version, here is the pdf article) – an interesting company: Fair Squared’s products are organic, halal, fair trade AND vegan. The brand will be officially launched in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Vivaness next month.
There is also an overview of the current state of organic C&T legislation in Europe (p. 18 in print – pdf article) and two articles about one of the most interesting topics I’ve ever written about: entomophagy (edible insects!). Click here for a background piece on the edible insects industry and an interview with Dan Imrie-Situnayake, founder of edible insects farm consultancy Tiny Farms. (p. 22 in the print version). Or download the entire Spring issue here: http://organicwellnessnews.com/en.
Filed under Brand Profiles, Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trends
First of all, this is not a product review or comparison. It is more of a presentation – three interesting products from different brands, taken from the same product category. In this case: face cleansing. All three brands are from Korea.
So, let’s dive right in! What we have here is a solid cleanser based on coconut oil and glycerin (Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick), a creamy white foam based on sea water and sea salt granules (Sea Salt Perfect Cleanser 40%) and a cleansing oil whose key ingredient, besides deep sea water, is Epidermal Growth Factor cell activator (Pure Propolis Washable Cleansing Oil).
The three brands are equally different: Su:m37 is from the luxury sector, Innisfree is a mass market brand with a very wide distribution and LaCell is firmly rooted in the niche/online retail channel.
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 