PARIS — L’Occitane Group has named a new chief executive officer, André J. Hoffmann.
Hoffmann succeeds Reinold Geiger, who on Thursday will step down from the role after steering the Swiss beauty company for more than 25 years. The 74-year-old will remain at the group as chairman of the board and executive director.
Alongside his new appointment, Hoffmann is to remain vice chairman of L’Occitane’s board and an executive director.
The 65-year-old has served as an executive director of L’Occitane Group since 2001 and was also appointed vice chairman in 2016. Between 1995 and 2017, Hoffmann ran the company’s Asia Pacific business.
Before signing on to L’Occitane Group, he had various sales management jobs at the GA Pacific Group.
“Today’s announcement is the natural evolution of the company’s needs as it transforms from a monobrand company with a ‘multilocal’ presence to a true multinational, multibrand group,” Geiger said in a statement.
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“It is a key step to strengthen our governance structure and position ourselves for a sustainable future rooted in our new mission to empower entrepreneurs and communities to cultivate natural beauty and wellbeing, and to regenerate nature.”
Hoffmann’s mandate includes leveraging the company’s core business to scale innovations and create large new businesses while continuing to build each brand’s identity, the group said.
“He will also be key in seizing opportunities to adapt to changing consumer behavior and to best serve customers across multiple channels globally, while continuing to embrace sustainability as the foundation of everything the group does,” continued L’Occitane.
Geiger said Hoffmann had been “key in growing L’Occitane from a small local brand in France to a successful global company. We know each other very well, and I have total confidence in André. His wide-ranging experience in the retail and distribution of cosmetic products is unique, and his personal drive and enthusiasm will help to further accelerate the group’s growth.”
Under Geiger’s helm, L’Occitane Group, based in Plan-Les-Ouates, Switzerland, blossomed into an international player, with six brands with natural bents: L’Occitane en Provence, Melvita, Erborian, L’Occitane au Brésil, LimeLife and Elemis.
The company counts more than 3,000 retail outlets, of which 1,500-plus are owned stores, in 90 countries. L’Occitane went public on the Hong Kong Stock exchange in 2010.
In 2018, the group inaugurated Obratori, a start-up studio in Marseille, France, focused on cosmetics and wellbeing.
During its 2020-21 fiscal year, L’Occitane International SA’s net profits increased 36.3 percent to 157 million euros, on net sales coming in at 1.54 billion euros, which were down 1 percent on a like-for-like basis.
Most recently, the group announced it is launching a social-selling platform, called MyL’Occitane, in the U.S.
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