AmorePacific’s U.S. President and Chief Executive Officer, Bradley Horowitz, is looking to make the $3 billion global corporation a bit better known in the U.S., most notably by raising brand awareness of its flagship skincare brand through retail partnerships and sampling, and by replicating the high-end customer service and technology used in its eponymous Soho spa.
“Over the last year we’ve brought the great service from our spa into some of our specialty store partners.Neiman Marcus, for example, gave us a back room to create a luxurious experience and to replicate the technology and service we have at the Soho spa, which has been a great a lab for service,” said Bradley.
Getting consumers to be more aware of a much-loved beauty brand seems to be a trend in today’s beauty world. Look no further than Living Proof and Alterna, both of which tapped celebrities Jennifer Anniston and Katie Holmes, respectively, in an effort to garner mass appeal. But Bradley, who joined AmorePacific Corporation in February 2012 as Chief Operating Officer, and was promoted to CEO in June 2012, is taking another route to grow awareness for the South Korea-based company.
And one plan targets beauty junkies head on.
AmorePacific, the company’s best selling skin care brand in the U.S., is sold in approximately 200 specialty stores in North America, including Bergdorf Goodman, Holt Renfrew, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Sephora. And tucked away in Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese communities are about 50 Amore shops, each of which sells all 20-plus of AmorePacific Corp.’s beauty brands, excluding the flagship brand. (While AmorePacific won’t be sold there, the store and its experience will undoubtedly place the brand top of mind.) Ten more are planned for 2013, some of which will begin appearing in mainstream areas to appeal to today’s savvy beauty consumer.
“If you love beauty and are a beauty junkie the stores are a lot of fun. In one store you discover brands from the other side of the world, many of them with new technologies and formulas that are not being used in this market,” said Bradley, adding that many of AmorePacific Corp.’s brands, such as Sulwhasoo and Laneige sold at the shops, generate as much as $500 million in global sales.
AmorePacific’s brand positioning—“high performance skin care”—comes from its blend of green tea from the company’s proprietary gardens on Jeju Island off the coast of Korea, which is combined with cutting edge-technology. [The company also operates a retail green tea business in Seoul.]
“There’s an interest in all things [from] Asia and certainly with the rise of China and with Korea becoming a powerhouse. That’s where we will come in [with these stores] and people will see products and formulations that are not at Sephora or Macy’s.”
The AmorePacific brand in the U.S. and Canada has experienced double-digit growth across all of its major retailer partners in the past 12 months, Bradley explained, who prior to joining AmorePacific Corp. founded and served as CEO of BJH Consulting, which counted Oscar de la Renta, Coty Beauty, Beauté Prestige International and VMV Hypoallergenics as clients.
Growth has been driven by “fueling our advertising and promotions. We’ve been driving more customers into stores with different sampling tools and increased traditional print (within in-store vehicles), social media and online promotions,” Bradley said.
AmorePacific can be considered a role model for what small, gem-like brands with a loyal following—but limited brand awareness—could be doing.
“You have to make a commitment and stick with it. We must achieve a better balance between push and pull marketing. We will invest in print advertising and direct mail to pull customers into the store and push what we are selling with incremental staffing and sampling support.”
The brand also is focusing on delivering superior service and technology in their retail partners.
“When it comes to providing different levels of service—protocols, customization—we adapt what we are doing in the spa to our retailer partners. From a technology standpoint, we have a ‘skinview’ device, which can take readings on your skin for moisture levels, dark spots and fine lines, and it also makes suggestions for products. We use this in our spa and have brought it in-store, and every time we ramp up service and technology in stores, there are better sales.”
AmorePacific creates different ranges to appeal to different demographic groups.
There’s Time Response, which targets the upper end of the market with items priced from $90 for Skin Renewal Foundation SPF 18 to $550 for Intensive Skin Renewable Ampoule, a four-week skin enhancement system. Time Response is sold in Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman.
Sephora also sells AmorePacific—under the Moisture Bound range—which is formulated to target consumers with the first signs of aging, and carries a more purse- friendly $35 to $150 price point range.
Then there’s Future Response, which is strategically wedged between the two with an Age Defense Crème priced at $195.
“It’s hard to pigeon hole us as only premium,” said Bradley.
Up until now bringing products to the U.S. has been formulaic: the company relies solely on AmorePacific Corp.’s R&D portfolio and gives all distributors new products at the same time. But Bradley is going after cross-pollination. “Not every technology has to be formulated for AmorePacific,” he said.
With that is the brand’s latest introduction, a Cushion Compact, which delivers a foundation in a compact.
“The compact is a sponge, and the technology exists on two other AmorePacific Corp. brands. The CC’s initial results are early but women are going crazy for this,” Bradley said of the compact now entering stores, which retails for $60.
As far as growth in the U.S., Bradley’s focus is “being more important with the people we work with now. We’re working to get our Sephora business up to $10 million. The same with Neiman Marcus. We are not in full distribution with either account. We’re in close to 15 Nordstrom doors. There’s much to do with our existing partners.”
Digital is also playing a big role in the company: an ecommerce site launched two months ago; sites for AmorePacific and Sulwhasoo have just launched. “We have a dedicated team of two developing these two businesses and of course there’s a social media aspect to it. AmorePacific just started Instagram. Our fan base on Facebook is more than 20,000. This is an exciting time.”