Will New Hire From Chanel Enhance L’Occitane’s Asian Growth?

Will New Hire From Chanel Enhance L’Occitane’s Asian Growth?

L'Occitane store in Hong Kong. (Photo by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)



SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

L'Occitane has hired former Chanel veteran Yves Blouin as group managing director in a move that underlines the French cosmetics group's ambitions in Asia—the only region that has offered growth prospects in recent months.

Blouin will join the Hong Kong-listed company this coming Monday after a 22-year career with Chanel. Some 17 of those years were at the helm of various Asian divisions including China and Japan. In the five years to 2019 he was managing director for the Middle East and India.

L'Occitane, known for its natural and organic ingredients is home to six beauty and well-being brands including L'Occitane en Provence, Elemis and LimeLife. It has more than 3,400 retail outlets, including 1,600 of its own stores in about 90 countries including the U.S. which remains the company's largest market—but that could change this year.



Since the dawn of the pandemic sales and profits have tumbled. In the six months to September 30 2020, revenue slipped by 15% to €617 million ($747 million)—three-quarters of that coming from a single brand: L'Occitane