Evelyne LY-Wainer, MD GTR for L’Occitane Group.

L’Occitane Group has a vision to be ‘the challenger’ of travel retail, says Evelyne LY-Wainer, Managing Director Global Travel Retail (GTR) for L’Occitane Group, who brought TRBusiness up to date on the company’s progress in the channel at the 2024 TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. 

The GTR division of the company operates as a multi-brand unit offering a portfolio of dynamic brands, from L’Occitane en Provence to Elemis, Melvita, Erborian and more including, of course, the runaway success story that is Sol de Janeiro.

This breadth of choice allows the company to target different generations of travellers.

“Our strategy is to bring those brands to relevant parts of the world, answering the needs of consumers and travellers, and to continue to grow our market share,” she said.

Key to this is creating an impact, not only on consumers but on the planet through its sustainability efforts – all the while bringing additional sales and profit to the group (stay tuned for an exclusive video interview with Mona L’Hostis, Head of GTR Marketing, during TR Sustainability Week – register here).

Evelyne LY-Wainer, Managing Director Global Travel Retail, and Mona L’Hostis, Head of GTR Marketing, for L’Occitane Group with TRBusiness Managing Editor Faye Bartle at TFWA Cannes 2024.

On the gains of Sol de Janeiro in the channel, LY-Wainer said: “We really want to be a disruptor in the industry to bring something new, unique and different, so the way we introduced Sol is a very good example.

“We try things that are a little bit unexpected, very surprising… and we go beyond the regular shop space. We do things in a multi-sensorial way, mix with different categories sometimes, and we bring music and life to the travellers and the airports.

“This is really a great example of how we can enhance the consumer experience in travel retail. I think nowadays everyone talks a lot about experience. But I think the experience has to be meaningful, relevant, sharable, joyful… and I think Sol de Janeiro is really checking all the boxes.”

The company has struck a healthy balance of the brands and geographical spread of its footprint in GTR, which largely mirrors that of the overall Group sales.

Click to learn more, including what LY-Wainer and the team are looking to achieve in 2025 through a carefully orchestrated ‘reset’…

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