The business of beauty

The Philippine beauty industry continues to flourish, spurring the entry of more homegrown and international makeup and cosmetics brands.

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinas, who are always on the lookout for the latest cosmetics and beauty products, can expect things to get more exciting as brand distributor iFace Inc. continues to bring home more international brands to enhance their  makeup palette.

Six years ago, businessman and iFace Inc. president and chief executive officer Tony Chua decided to join the growing cosmetics industry by bringing in Melbourne-based cosmetics brand BYS to the Philippines, which eventually became a household name among Filipinas.

“Starting a new brand in a new market for me was a challenge. Five years ago, we would say that we sell and distribute cosmetics but now, we would say, we build brands,” Chua said in an interview with The STAR.

With an initial investment of about $1 million in 2012, Chua said the company managed to grow significantly, allowing them to distribute approximately 20 brands of cosmetics, skincare and beauty accessories from all over the world.

Apart from BYS, iFace Inc. currently distributes LOL Cosmetics, Deoproce, Wet Brush, Ikoo, Bi-es, Fabio Verso, Celeteque Dermocosmetics, Bell Cosmetics, EVA-NYC, Radiant, Brut and Chromastix, among others.

For instance, the  BYS brand, which takes up about 60 to 70 percent of the company’s total sales, is now ranked fourth in terms of sales at Watsons stores, overtaking almost 80 other brands in a span of only five years.

“We have been growing at a rate that is way above industry standards. The cosmetics industry is growing at more than 10   percent every year, but for the last couple of years, we have been growing nearly 100 percent,” Chua said.

This year alone, Chua disclosed that five new foreign brands are coming in. Two from Korea and one each from the US, United Kingdom and Greece that will be added to iFace’s growing portfolio of international brands.

“The brand continues to develop a lot of products because the market is evolving constantly. Consumers today are very selective and very wise, they know what they want. There’s too much choice in the market, so you need to keep developing innovative products,” Chua said.

“We have a very ambitious goals every year. We set  high objectives in terms of growth and the number of brands that we are going to bring in. If we see a potential for this brand in the Philippines, we bring it in,” he added.

“We need to continue introducing new products.  We need to keep pushing our marketing efforts and sustain our credibility in the marketplace by communicating our brands with our market,” Chua said.

While iFace has somewhat limited its chance to cater to more consumers as it distributes exclusively to Watsons only, Chua said the company has no plans yet of offering to other malls even if they have received invitations to do so.

“We value our partnership with SM Watsons significantly. We distribute only to Watsons almost anything that we bring into the Philippines. That formula worked for us and we don’t intend to change that,” Chua said.

“It limits us in a sense, but if you are exclusive with Watsons, they also give you a lot of benefits. You just have to balance it and if you think that works for your business model, then it is okay. The scheme has worked for us,” he added.

The company has tapped local celebrity Nadine Lustre for a makeup collaboration under the BYS brand as it targets to further boost sales.

It  is  also set to enter the e-commerce space as it plans to launch its own online site that will cater to all of its brands.

“We are in some sites (Lazada, Zalora) via Watsons. But ultimately, we want to have our own platform. It is already in the works and may materialize this year,” Chua said.

While iFace seemed to have grown at a much faster pace, Chua admitted that return on investment was actually slower than what he expected.

“Our ROI was two years. I was expecting it to be only one year. In the beginning, we didn’t know exactly how to do it. Obviously we were less experienced then. We made mistakes along the way, we overspent, but what is important is we learn from our mistakes,” Chua said.

“You just need to keep working hard and you need to keep learning,” he said.

And while iFace and the brands it sells have significantly grew, Chua believes that the company has barely scratched the surface. “I think the potential of the Philippine market is very good, largely due to the emerging middle class. As long as the emerging middle class keeps growing and is sustained, there will always be a good potential for all the brands that we bring in,” he said.