Boticário will invest nearly R $ 1 million a day in 2019

Grupo Boticário – owner of the brands O Boticário, Eudora, who said, berenice ?, Multi B, The Beauty Box and Vult – expects a 7% revenue growth for 2019. By 2018, the growth was the even. According to the group's general manager, Artur Grynbaum, the estimate can still be evaluated. "We want to wait a little after the start of the year and the changes that will occur on the national political scene.We are optimistic, but we must see how the expectations will be transformed into actions.This estimate may increase depending on the evolution of the economic part of the country, "he said.

Investments of R $ 300 million are also planned for the coming year, an amount exceeding R $ 250 million invested in 2018. For the time being, it is still not available. of closed plan for the destination of these amounts, but a good part has to be paid logistical improvements, technology and innovation. Among the brands, who said, berenice? may receive a little more investment than others, but according to Grynbaum, the difference should not be very significant. In 2018, the group has opened 62 new stores and plans to open another 40 in 2019.

Diversification to reach new audiences

Created in 2010, Grupo Boticário has since expanded its portfolio, launching new brands or acquire existing brands. The most recent was the purchase of Vult in early 2018. According to the CEO, this acquisition was extremely important for the group because it allowed it to enter a new niche of consumers. "Vult was created by two excellent entrepreneurs, who were looking to take the next steps and for the Group, this acquisition resulted in an increase of 35,000 sales positions," he said.

The consolidated model of the group's main brand, the O Boticário franchise, remains strong: there are 3,378 active points of sale between stores and kiosks. But the Group has also diversified the channels and, like Eudora, it is now possible to sell O Boticário products directly, albeit in a partial way. Eudora, at its birth, was only a direct sale. It currently has five physical stores located in Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The creation of e-commerce and Multi B pursues the same goal of extending multichannel. The latter is a multi-brand retail company, which exclusively distributes products of international brands Australian Gold, Revlon, Bio-Oil, Lee Stafford, Nuxe, Sinful Colors, as well as products of Eudora's own brands. and who said, berenice? in pharmacies, perfumeries and department stores. "We are starting to get better results now with this convergence of channels by bringing greater ease to the consumer, who can choose the best way to proceed with the purchase," Grynbaum said.

In addition to Brazil, the group is present in 15 other countries, such as the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Portugal, Japan and the United States. Others Last September, the first O Boticário store in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was opened, which, according to the CEO, was a milestone for the company, which attracted tourists from around the world, even surprising. Brazilians who already knew the brand. "Many say that they did not even recognize the store (O Boticário store architecture has been completely redesigned in recent years), who were no longer consumers and were impressed by what they had seen, this shows that our products have the necessary quality to compete on an equal footing with those of international brands, "Grynbaum said.

Among the other brands of the group, there are 244 stores who said, berenice? in Brazil and 10 stores in Portugal and 47 stores in The Beauty Box.

Innovation and Technology

Each year, Boticário Group invests 2.5% of its turnover in innovation and technological research. BotiLab was launched in 2017, an area of ​​innovation focused on developing agile solutions. This laboratory has already reached an important milestone in 2018 by announcing the world's first perfume developed with the help of artificial intelligence, which should begin to be marketed in mid-2019.

In two versions, the fragrance was created with two global giants: Symrise, a leading fragrance maker; and IBM Research, responsible for Phylira, an artificial intelligence solution that uses automated learning algorithms to examine a large number of formulas and ingredients, looking for patterns and new combinations. "Many people badociate innovation with new products, but that's not all we're looking for," the group says. said Grynbaum. According to him, the group seeks to innovate in the way of communicating with consumers, in shopping experiences, in the format of the stores, to name a few. "It's in our DNA, so it's almost natural to take this step with products developed with innovative technologies," he said. For him, it is only the beginning of a trajectory that must continue, mainly with the wealth of data collected in social networks, for example, which facilitate the identification and understanding of the profile. of the consumer.

In 2017 alone, the Group launched 1,438 new products. On average, 350 million items are produced each year in its two factories located in São José dos Pinhais, in Paraná, and in Camaçari, in the state of Bahia. Also in 2017, 300 million items were shipped from the group 's two distribution centers, one to Registro, in São Paulo, and the other to São Gonçalo dos Campos, in Bahia.

According to Euromonitor data, the Boticário group held the third position in market share in Brazil in 2017, at 10.8%. It is first Natura, with 11.7%, a brand obtained after the purchase of the British brand The Body Shop in 2017, which also surpbaded the giant Unilever, which represents 11.1% of the market . However, these badets were disclosed in May 2018, before the acquisition of Vult by Grupo Boticário