Category Archives: Trends

16/02/2016 · 17:47

Vivaness 2016: [Show Report]

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.

Vivaness, Day 1 (16) Continue reading →

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07/02/2016 · 10:17

Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapter 13)

The latest English-language installment of Beautyjagd (Germany’s biggest organic cosmetics blog) is online!

News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (13) – including an article on cosmetics formulated with chamomile, a feature on organic niche beauty brands from France; an interview with a product manager at raw ingredients supplier Dr. Straetmans and, of course, the latest German and international organic beauty news, product launches and reviews. Enjoy!

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01/02/2016 · 13:08

OWN: The Spring 2016 edition of Organic & Wellness News is here

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.

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20/01/2016 · 10:47

Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapter 12)

The latest installment of “Beautyjagd in English” has just gone online!

News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (12) – this time with a visit to the Birchbox pop-up store in Bon Marché, Paris; the second part of Julia’s 2015 Review article (favourite organic cosmetics of 2015), an article on the beauty classic Cold Cream, a store profile of organic perfumery Belladonna in Berlin and, of course, all the latest info about German and European organic brand news and launches. Enjoy!

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16/01/2016 · 13:48

Triangle: Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick (Su:m37), Sea Salt Perfect Cleanser 40% (Innisfree), Pure Propolis Washable Cleansing Oil (LaCell)

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.

Overview

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12/01/2016 · 19:03

CBM Magazine: Retail Focus articles from 2015

Here is some more reading material! My editorial projects also include the monthly Retail Focus series that I write for HPCi Media’s CBM Magazine. These are short one-page company profiles of interesting C&T retailers. The Retail Focus articles cover the big international chains but we also feature smaller or regional beauty companies: different countries and distribution channels, tiny chains and large retail empires, online stores and bricks & mortar perfumeries, specialist stores, drugstore retailers, department stores, pharmacies…when I am travelling I frequently come across interesting beauty stores and these often appear as Retail Focus articles in CBM Magazine a few months later.

And here is a list of 2015 articles: the year started with a company profile on French department store chain Monoprix. In February I wrote about Japanese beauty retailer @cosme, March it was was German drugstore chain Budnikowsky’s turn, and in April  we featured German drugstore retailer Müller. May: Paris-based niche perfumery Nose, June: Japanese organic beauty retailer Cosmekitchen, July: Hong Kong-based C&T giant AS Watson, (two pages actually since AS Watson has such an immense retail presence!) August: UK beauty and pharmacy retailer Boots, September: perfumery chain Sasa (also from Hong Kong), October: UK online salon booking company Wahanda, November: German beauty box subscription company Glossybox (two pages again: I interviewed Glossybox founder Charles von Abercron) and December: US drugstore chain CVS Pharmacy.

And the first half of 2016 will be equally interesting (and international!): we have profiles coming up about Korean drugstore chain Olive Young, US perfumery retailer Ulta, UK-based online men’s care store Mankind, drugstore chain Superdrug (also from the UK), Korean perfumery chain Belport, London’s Selfridge’s department store, Swiss supermarket retailer Coop, and in July it will be the turn of another Japanese drugstore chain, Sundrug.

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Filed under Brand Profiles, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends

10/01/2016 · 16:32

SPC Magazine: C&T Market Report Germany 2015

And here is the annual Germany Report that I wrote for SPC Magazine last September.  It’s one of my favourite repeat assignments: an analysis of what happened in the German C&T industry over the past 12 months – retailers, brands, product launches, trends.

And 2014/2015 was a tempestuous year for the German retail industry: drugstore chains DM and Rossmann continue the battle for market leadership and Germany’s leading perfumery retailer Douglas was acquired by a Luxembourg-based investment fund.

The two biggest German department store chains, Karstadt and Kaufhof, also changed hands: Karstadt has gone to Austrian Signa group (Signa has already sold some of Karstadt’s premium stores to Italian department store retailer La Rinascente) and Kaufhof went to Canadian retail group Hudson’s Bay.

The feature appeared in the magazine’s October issue; the copyright belongs to HPCi Media/cosmeticsbusiness.com. Enjoy!

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06/01/2016 · 10:17

Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapter 11)

One of my favourite projects is doing the translations for organic beauty blog Beautyjagd.de. Beautyjagd is run by Julia Keith who really knows her stuff: she writes about organic C&T brands, stores and companies, about new product launches, trends and ingredients.

Sometimes she publishes interviews with retailers or brands; there is coverage from trade shows and other industry events – my favourites are the weekly Beauty Notes: a round-up of new organic products, launches and brand news from around the world. In fact, this is what I particularly like about Beautyjagd: the international angle. Although the blog’s primary focus is the German organic C&T industry, Julia also writes about international brands and retailers so you get a good mixture of articles.

I do the translations for Beautyjagd: every two week there is an English-language post which offers a condensed version of the most important articles that Julia has published over the previous two weeks. And it occurred to me that I haven’t linked to any of my translations yet! The latest English installment went online today, you can find it here:

News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (11) – including an article on Japanese incense brand Shoyeido, a visit to DIY beauty store Aroma Zone in Paris, organic beauty Christmas presents, a review of US brand Ilia Beauty’s Vivid Foundation and plenty of organic products launches and brand news.

For a list of previous English-language Beautyjagd articles, click the “Continue Reading” button below.

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29/12/2015 · 11:18

Brand Profile: Satamisaki Organics

I first came across Kyushu-based niche beauty brand Satamisaki Organics in Japanese drugstore retailer Ainz & Tulpe’s Shinjuku East outlet this October (you can read my article about the company’s fabulous new Tokyo flagship store here!). Ainz & Tulpe has a special section on the first floor that is dedicated to local beauty brands from across Japan.

Ainz & Tulpe Flagship Shinjuku (54)

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06/11/2015 · 14:06

Retail notes from Taipei: [Store Profile] MasKingdom Revisited!

I arrived in Taipei a few days ago and one of my first visits was to MasKingdom’s flagship in the city’s trendy Ximen area. I had written about this unique Taiwanese face mask manufacturer last November during my first visit to Taipei – you can read the post here.

[EDIT 29/04/2017: Unfortunately the store has closed down. Thanks to nn for the info!]

I did notice that MasKingdom masks are now appearing in a number of Asian online shops so it looks like the brand is doing very well.  When I visited the store I was yet again struck by the beauty of MasKingdom’s Taiwanese Aboriginal mask series – probably the brand’s best-known range – and decided to buy a mask set.

Maskingdom (1)

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