L’Occitane Group has reported a double digit sales boom in the third quarter of 2024.
The brand owner's sales jumped by 19.5% to €843.4m in Q3, and was largely driven by a 199.1% increase in sales from Sol de Janeiro.
This was supported by a “record-breaking” holiday season for the Brazilian skin brand, which also benefited from the launches of its Delicia Drench Body Butter body cream and its new hair mist category.
“We will continue to build on the accelerating growth of Sol de Janeiro as we steadily expand its product and category range, and the scale and reach of its distribution,” said André Hoffmann, Vice Chairman and CEO of L’Occitane.
Elemis also returned to double-digit growth of 14.7% during the quarter, following a “solid” holiday trading period.
Additionally, sales in the UK and the US grew 23.2% and 19.4% respectively.
The skin care specialist said its ongoing ‘premiumisation strategy’, which intends to support its “long-term profitability”, benefited the brand during the quarter.
Sol De Janeiro’s Delicia Drench Body Butter launched in December 2023
L'Occitane struggles to shine
Sol De Janeiro’s Delicia Drench Body Butter launched in December 2023
L’Occitane en Provence, the group's flagship brand, struggled for another consecutive quarter as sales dropped by 2.9% to £491.5m during the vital gifting period.
This was attributed to declines in the EMEA market and lagging travel retail sales, but was partially offset by stronger sales growth in China.
“We delivered a decent holiday season, which enabled us to maintain our growth momentum and relative outperformance in the premium beauty market in China and other key markets,” added Hoffman.
Looking at the full nine months of L’Occitane’s 2024 financial year, sales increased by 18.9% to €1.9bn.
The American market has continued to lead growth for the beauty owner, with sales up 67.1% for the nine-month period and has been mainly driven by Sol de Janeiro.
For the Asia Pacific market, sales increased by 6.7% through a strong sales of L’occitane en Provence and Elemis in China
L’Occitane has also recently invested in luxury home fragrance with the acquisition of Italian brand Dr. Vranjes Firenze.
The business said the purchase is another step in its strategy to build a geographically balanced portfolio of premium beauty and fragrance brands.
“We will also further build on the healthy growth of other brands, including our recently acquired luxury home fragrance brand, Dr. Vranjes Firenze, to round out our portfolio,” added Hoffman.
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