Oriflame licensed for China direct
Oriflame has been granted a direct sales licence in China for the cities of Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and Kunshan in Jiangsu province. The company says it plans to begin sales activities in November 2006.
“I am pleased and honoured that the Chinese government has granted Oriflame a licence to commence direct sales activities in China,” commented Magnus Brännström, ceo of Oriflame. “We are the first European and only the third foreign company to have been granted this licence. We believe this decision reflects Oriflame’s status as a cosmetics industry leader as well as our long-term commitment to the Chinese market.”
The company has also reported that its sales and operating margins for the year are looking to be in line with expectations, based on Q3 sales across most product and geographical areas. However, sales have been affected by external factors, such as weather conditions, mainly in Central Europe, and economic uncertainty in Turkey. Sales in Russia have also suffered as from 1 July 2006 a licence has been required to import alcohol-based products, including fragrance. Oriflame now has a licence and fragrance sales recommenced on 18 September.
Despite such problems in Q3, Oriflame says that results for the year as a whole will be in line with company expectations, with a sales increase well above adopted financial targets.