L'Oréal secures a new darling in high-end beauty

Author | Zheng Qiao

Editor | Wang Xiaojuan

L'Oréal's beauty landscape is once again extending into the high-end market.

Recently, global beauty giant L'Oréal Group signed a long-term exclusive beauty cooperation agreement with the renowned French fashion brand Jacquemus, while L'Oréal is also supporting Jacquemus's independent development through minority equity investment.

Although the transaction amount has not been disclosed, combined with Jacquemus's influence on social media and among young consumers in recent years, the market generally believes this is a key step for L'Oréal to consolidate its position in the high-end market and capture the minds of Generation Z.

Jacquemus, as a well-known French designer brand, is renowned for its fashion and high-end positioning, famous for its "Instagram aesthetics"—its iconic mini handbags, minimalist design language, and the personal IP of founder Simon Porte Jacquemus have accumulated over 8 million followers on social media, with a user profile highly aligned with L'Oréal's target of "high-spending millennials and Generation Z."

Previously, Jacquemus had planned to collaborate with the Spanish beauty group Puig in 2021 to develop beauty business, and Puig acquired 10% of Jacquemus's shares. However, by 2022, Jacquemus repurchased these shares, and the collaboration was announced to be terminated.

In August 2024, Jacquemus was reported to be in financial trouble and subsequently entrusted an investment bank to seek external investment to support the brand's new round of store expansion plans for the next two years. L'Oréal's investment may provide financial support.

Brand founder and designer Simon Porte Jacquemus stated that when he created Jacquemus fifteen years ago, perfume and beauty have always been part of his vision for the brand. This collaboration with L'Oréal makes him look forward to the brand's future.

L'Oréal Group President Cyril Chapuy responded that the two parties will jointly explore Jacquemus's unlimited potential in the high-end beauty field in the future. "Jacquemus, with its unique brand positioning, extraordinary creativity, and strong social media influence, will add unique charm to L'Oréal's high-end cosmetics brand portfolio."

This collaboration is an important step in L'Oréal's luxury strategy. By partnering with designer brands, L'Oréal can not only enrich its high-end beauty matrix but also leverage the unique designs and market influence of these brands to further enhance the group's competitiveness in the high-end beauty market.

As early as six years ago, L'Oréal strengthened its competitiveness in the beauty market through collaborations with Prada Beauty and Valentino Beauty. These collaborations not only brought new product lines to L'Oréal but also allowed the group to gradually transition from the traditional mass beauty market to the high-end and luxury market.

Last year, L'Oréal Group continued to consolidate its market position through a series of acquisitions and investments. In February, L'Oréal obtained the cosmetics license for the Miu Miu brand and planned to launch its first perfume products; in August, it acquired 10% of the shares of Gaudemei Group to integrate both parties' advantages in dermatology and promote research and innovation; in December, it acquired the Korean sensitive skin brand Dr.G and incorporated it into the mass cosmetics division, while investing in the Chinese high-end medical beauty chain "Yan Shu Medical Beauty." Not only that, in the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the beauty industry, major giants are consolidating their positions through acquisitions. LVMH occupies a high-end market share with brands like Dior and Givenchy; Estée Lauder has acquired Tom Ford Beauty to strengthen its luxury attributes. Although L'Oréal owns beauty brands like YSL and Armani, it needs brands with a stronger "trend gene" to combat competition.

Jacquemus's unique value lies in its combination of "designer genes + social media operation + environmental concepts," which may be the key reason why L'Oréal is willing to invest at a premium. Previously, the collaboration between Jacquemus and Nike successfully generated traffic, and its marketing model has disrupted traditional approaches.

On February 6 local time, L'Oréal disclosed its full-year performance for 2024: sales reached €43.4868 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.6%; operating profit was €8.6875 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. Among them, the cosmetics division's sales reached €15.982 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, becoming the group's largest source of income; while the luxury cosmetics division's sales were €15.591 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%, the slowest growth rate.

High-end beauty drives growth, and L'Oréal urgently needs fresh blood. For Jacquemus, backed by L'Oréal's R&D and channels, its path from "influencer brand" to "global luxury beauty player" will be significantly shortened.

After Jacquemus's beauty line is integrated into L'Oréal, it can leverage the group's advantages in beauty to quickly expand high-profit categories. In addition, L'Oréal's retail network in Asia, especially in China's duty-free channels and Sephora channels, can help it reach new customer groups.

For L'Oréal, investing in Jacquemus is not only a financial investment but also a strategic content asset. In an era where competition in the beauty industry is increasingly evolving into an "attention war," investing in brands that can generate traffic is equivalent to directly acquiring access to users' minds.

In the future, if this model is successfully replicated, it may trigger a new wave of beauty mergers and acquisitions—after all, in Generation Z's shopping carts, brand value is increasingly equated with "social capital."