TheFaceShop, a South Korean skin care and cosmetics manufacturer and retailer (LG Group), is expanding into the Russian market. The company has already signed an agreement with Direct, which will be responsible for the opening and development of TheFaceShop stores in Russia.
According to Natalia Podgoreckaya, CEO of Direct, the first store is scheduled to open in a local shopping centre in St Petersburg in June 2014. Shops in other cities will follow. In the initial stages, stores will be opened in the largest cities of Russia. The value of the investment at the initial stage is expected to reach US$20m, but that figure may significantly increase during the next several years. By 2017 the company plans to have opened around ten TheFaceShop stores in Russia.
TheFaceShop plans to focus its activities in Russia on natural cosmetics. The company has high hopes for the development of natural cosmetics in the Russian market, where local demand for natural cosmetics is steadily growing. According to a recent study conducted by RBC Research, one of Russia’s leading market research agencies in the field of cosmetics, in 2013 sales of natural and organic cosmetics in Russia for the first time exceeded 10% of total sales of perfume and cosmetic products on the Russian market – 45% more than in 2011. One reason for this is vigorous activity of beauty retailers, which in recent years have significantly increased sales of natural cosmetics and expanded their range in the Russian market.
Eugene Gerden, Moscow