Two years after having entered the perfumery and cosmetic business in addition to its previous activities (textile, personal care, mass market products),Li & Fung is announcing its intention to become a key player in this industry.
In 2007, Li & Fung firstly bought CGroup HK Ltd (June 2007, secondary packaging, full service, promotional items), PB Beauty, UK (August 2007, private labelling of cosmetic producs), then Imagine PoS (January 2008, point-of-sale advertising) and RT Sourcing (August 2008, primary packaging).
This strategy of know-how development through external growth will now be concentrated in a single entity, as Li & Fung’s cosmetic business will be gathered under the name LF Beauty by July 2009. Thus, two years proved to be enough for Li & Fung to clarify its strategy, organise its know-how and become a global supplier on the entire supply chain of the industry.
In practice, LF Beauty now features sales staff in Europe (Paris, London), in the USA (New York, Dallas), and in China (Hong Kong, Shanghai), an important R&D laboratory in the UK, including a product development and sourcing teams, project management and quality insurance teams for its various production facilities (Hong-Kong, ShenZen, DongGuan, Shanghai, etc…), filling units (Angleterre, Chine). Organised in networks, LF Beauty teams manage thousands suppliers, industrial partners, from the product’s design to its production (where materials and components are sourced from various suppliers) and delivery.
LF Beauty will develop a customer-centred model. From the primary container to PoS advertising, and “full service” activities, promotional items and assembling activities, LF Beauty operates by combining know-how and customer oriented project management. Now, Li & Fung’s new entity is carrying on its market covering strategy, and specialising its various units on each segment (a luxury division, a mass-market division, a direct sales division, etc. ...).
Furthermore, LF Beauty benefits from Li & Fung international network, as the group operates in forty countries worldwide: a strong asset while the sourcing sector is constantly evolving.
Questioned about the specificity of LF Beauty, Guy d’Auriol and Yan d’Auriol, former founders of the CG Group HK Ltd, and current heads LF Beauty, say: “LF Beauty is a valuable partner for world’s leaders in the beauty industry, from creativity, to industrial development, quality insurance and logistic. Thanks to our constant presence on the field and the various control procedures that we have implemented, we can guarantee a top compliance level to our customers. Furthermore, belonging to a group such as Li & Fung provides us with the resources we need to serve our ambitions and those of our customers.”
Bruce Rockowitz, President of L&F Trading adds: “the beauty business is the most recent in our group, but we are expecting a strong growth in this sector that we are ready to support through new purchases, with the aim to become a key player”.
