COSMOFACTORY

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Deanna: [00:00:00] In this episode, we're talking about sourcing eco conscious brands for retail, about consumer expectations in the GCC and Indian Ocean territories, about building a beauty division from the ground up, and much more. Joining me today on the CosmoFactory podcast is Brooke Bergé, division manager for beauty distribution at Ali Bin Ali Holding.
Deanna: Welcome.
Brooke: Hi Diana. How are you?
Deanna: I'm good. Thank you so much for joining me.
Brooke: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
Deanna: I would love to just get started [00:01:00] by hearing a little bit about what your job is.
Brooke: Perfect. Well, basically, um, my role is, um, as you mentioned, vision manager for beauty distribution. I head up a very large, well known company. Um, our division is actually called Ali Ben Ali Beauty. Um, the company, however, I work for is Ali Ben Ali Holding, which is one of the leading distributors in the entire Middle Eastern region.
Brooke: Um, I personally look after, um, around 22 countries. At the same time, um, I manage, um, a portfolio of 30 to 40 brands. So it is, is quite an exciting role.
Deanna: Yeah, excellent. It sounds exciting. Thank you for that. So, um, as listeners know, our theme here on the CosmoFactory podcast is ideas to innovation. As I understand it, um, the beauty division did not exist at Ali bin Ali holding when you got started. So you must've began with an idea in your head. Tell me how you started making it a reality.
Brooke: [00:02:00] So I think, um, with my background in more than 25 years experience in the beauty industry, and of course, nearly 20 years in the Middle Eastern region, it was actually quite an exciting role to take on board. So I created the beauty distribution division, um, just under two years ago at, um, Ali Ben Ali holding.
Brooke: Um, so basically completely new division. There was no platform, nothing had begun. Um, and, um, again, it was quite exciting because I actually got to create a whole concept in my mind. Um, I got to begin recruitment, um, looking at. different brands, again, traveling around the world, sourcing new brands. Um, so yeah, again, very exciting.
Brooke: Um, and today, as of today, we have 30 to 40 brands in the portfolio. Um, you know, that the whole concept I created was very much around the lines of consciously curated [00:03:00] beauty brands. And again, it's not only beauty when we say beauty, it's anything from skincare. to hair care. Um, we look at oral care, intimate hygiene.
Brooke: We look at organic period care. Um, we have organic perfumes, beauty supplements, personal care, and it's anything from, from lifestyle to luxury brands and everything in between. So again, price price points differ. We're not looking specifically at one category or one channel that we approach. Um, And brands that I do kind of source, we're looking at brands that have high efficacy.
Brooke: Um, I mainly look at brands that have, um, I look at packaging aesthetics because again, you know, bringing brands into the Middle East is not easy and we're already oversaturated and overwhelmed with so many brands. So you have to have a very clear idea of the brands you would like to bring in. So apart from obviously them being quite clean and natural organic type brown.
Brooke: And [00:04:00] high efficacy. I look at packaging aesthetics. Um, definitely. I look at certifications. Um, and at the same time, I actually like to look at brands that are very indie there in their own niche and family owned businesses. And I think this comes from a background as. My family had their own family business when I was growing up.
Brooke: And I guess over the last 20 years, I've worked with a lot of companies in the region, which were family owned and Ali Ben Ali holding themselves is a family owned business. So I would like to kind of keep in line with that. So. Yeah,
Deanna: Yeah, that's, that's an interesting theme almost, isn't it? Tell me a little bit more about what a family owned brand looks like. What are some of the, um, characteristics or what are you excited about, um, when you, when you just have a, find one of these brands?
Brooke: no, absolutely. So I guess for family owned businesses, it's not someone who has different investors or equity funds looking into them and, you know, having their own say, you know, [00:05:00] family owned business is, you know, it's, it's in the family. Um, you don't have that outside support. So, um, it's more of a small business.
Brooke: Like I said, very, very indie type brands. Um, they may not be global conglomerates. Um, they may not be distributed globally either, but they're again, the brands do really well in their own right in their own market or different countries around the world. Um, yeah, I mean, I guess that that is the key aspect what we do look at.
Brooke: Um, you know, a lot of indie brands and family and businesses that I do look out for, and they may not. Yeah. As I said, they may not have that huge behind them, even personally, financially. Um, but these brands are really good in their own right because of organic feedback as well. So it's not something where they have to have a million followers on Instagram or do really well on TikTok, but people know them through organic feedback.
Brooke: I, I, I understand that these days, organic feedback is not something people like to [00:06:00] hear. Um, but still, you know, I'm, my mindset is still very niche again, you
Deanna: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Brooke: I would love to create a portfolio and I am creating a portfolio that has its own niche as well.
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah.
Brooke: brands that are still very clean, eco conscious, um,
Deanna: about that concept. When, when you and I spoke earlier, you suggested that, um, the Ali bin Ali beauty division will be one of the biggest eco conscious beauty players in the region. Tell me, tell me, tell me about that.
Brooke: Yeah. So again, as a, as a holding, um, you know, we are the leaders in the region or one of the biggest in the region. And the concept I created, um, is very clean, natural organic. Conscious type brands that I'd love to curate, um, but it's not, I guess it's not very easy, you know, when you get to choose these type of brands either. Um, as I said, the market is already oversaturated. And, you know, when you choose a [00:07:00] brand, um, it's quite challenging to make sure the brand is going to do really well in the market too.
Brooke: Um, so. When I do travel or when I go to these exhibitions such as CosmoProf, um, there's many things that we have to look out for, um, like I mentioned before about packaging, certifications, the efficacy of a product, um,
Deanna: Yeah. Help us think more about market fit. What are, what are your customers, your end consumers expectations and in the region and maybe some, some similarities or differences among all the countries you're covering?
Brooke: so especially the Middle Eastern region, um, you know, consumers are not only price savvy, um, but again, they travel a lot, so they know what's out there. And there is a huge portion of brands actually that are not in the Middle Eastern market. Um, so they do look, the Middle Eastern consumer does look, look at some premium. Again, with that are more affordable, but obviously premium to luxury brands. Um, but the Middle Eastern [00:08:00] consumer, um, they're very finicky when it comes to brands. So whether it is not only the pricing, but it has to be highly effective, whether it's, um, a medical grade or just a highly effective product in general.
Brooke: And obviously consumers really look at marketing. Um, I know I, you know, I mentioned about organic feedback, but again, you know, a lot of these consumers love your Instagram. They love the tick tock. You know, it doesn't necessarily matter how many followers you have. But, um, they really like to see, um, the brands developing their social media and being highly active on there for them to be able to see the feed and the different posts on how to use products per se.
Brooke: Um, so I like to look at brands, um, obviously they're not that are not are here. Um, but something that's maybe trending in another market. So I just came back from, um, um, the, um, CBE. Exhibition in Shanghai [00:09:00] and another one called the Prof in Bangkok, and obviously they have their own trends. They have their own local brands, and that's what I really love to see and what I'm passionate about.
Brooke: I love to go to another market and see what's trending there, but something that's very localized, because I don't specifically choose a brand because of the country. And I'm not dedicated to say, um, something that's just Korean or something Spanish or something French. All of the brands we have, I would say they don't overlap.
Brooke: Um, they're all different brands and they're from all different countries. Um, but I do love looking at new trends in different countries and looking at the local brands. Because when I again, when I do a market visit, um, you know, when I go to these countries on top of going to the exhibition, Should like to look at the department stores, different salons, um, maybe different hotel spas to see what they have, what they're selling and maybe what they're using, or if we can bring it, um, and import it into the country.
Deanna: Yeah. No, that's so interesting. That's so interesting. Thank [00:10:00] you. Can you give us some examples of the brands that you've brought in? What, what maybe is performing well or have, have been some real success stories for you?
Brooke: No, perfect. So actually, um, One of I would say our biggest brands that we have amongst a portfolio of 40 um, clean brands is Belafontaine. So Belafontaine is a Swiss brand. It's a very high end luxury brand, um, where you would find it in luxury resorts, destination spas, hotel, Um, hotels, etc. Um, so that is one of our premium brands, Premium Luxury, at a higher price point.
Brooke: Um, you also have, I would say, um, Vitaman, which is doing really well in the region too. Vitaman is actually an Australian brand,
Deanna: Yeah, that's,
Brooke: men's hair. So, um, I mean, we have quite a few, um, hair gain does fabulously. Well, it's a hair growth, um, product. They do supplements, gummies, but they also do [00:11:00] topical treatments like your hair masks and powder puffs and, um, dry shampoos and things like that. Um, we have, um, a brand called which is from Belgium, um, purely retail brands. Um, very like a deluxe formula, very thick and rich, rich textures. And that does really well in department stores. Um, we have a really lovely portion of spa brands too, on top of, um, Bella Fontaine and Vitaman. We have St. Monde from France.
Brooke: We have a Una from Spain. Um, we have several lifestyle brands that do really well. such as Teology from Italy, Hippress from the States, um, then from Korea. Um, so I can't really say one does well over the other, but we do have a decent portfolio and, you know, in their own channels, they do, they all do fabulously well.
Deanna: hmm. Mm hmm. You mentioned supplements there, and that's definitely an emerging category or growing, I should say, um, in the cosmetics and personal care industry. [00:12:00] Anything particular about the market you cover?
Brooke: It's actually quite interesting, the supplements, you know, um, again, this category is very oversaturated in the pharmaceutical channel, but when you look at, um, like your department stores, the beauty retailers, maybe some other channels, um, you know, it's very rare to find them. So the brands that have actually bought on board were actually quite huge in their own market.
Brooke: Get their local market in department stores of beauty retailers, which is hard to find in the Middle Eastern region. Um, so we have brands, like I mentioned, we have Hairgain from the UK for hair growth, but then we have like performance type brands. Um, we have Sanbero from Switzerland, which is really, um, for inner and outer health.
Brooke: Another brand we're looking at onboarding is from Singapore. Um, it's called Dr. Aura. And funnily enough, I met them last year, um, in Hong Kong in Kathmandu. Um, and that was a fabulous event [00:13:00] actually, um, with some wonderful brands, um, that I actually onboarded from that event. But, um, I would say beauty supplements, health supplements.
Brooke: Um, a definitely up and coming and non pharmaceutical type. So rather in the beauty segment for beauty retail and department stores.
Deanna: Interesting. Yeah. Thank you for that. And you've mentioned the, the brand onboarding process several times here. Um, and, and you told me earlier that Qatar in particular happens to have, um, pretty strict regulatory guidelines for new brands. Can you just talk about that process with your brands? What's, what's a typical timeline and what are some of the challenges they might expect?
Brooke: Yes, this is a very interesting topic, actually. Um, especially because I've been in the region nearly 20 years and the timeline has actually changed. Um, it used to be, Um, you know, sometimes 9 to 12 months plus, you know, years ago for, um, or to complete the regulatory process. These days, it's much quicker.
Brooke: [00:14:00] Um, so you can be looking at, again, depending on the country, because we manage, let's just look at the GCC, for example. Katarioka, you're looking at anywhere from three to five plus months to complete the registration process. Again, we really need to think about how many products we're registering. Is it a five SKU brand or is it a 200 SKU brand?
Brooke: Because that would obviously change. So if we take an average of say 50 SKUs, um, UAE. Um, again, I was living there for 17 years. I've only been in Qatar just over two years. Um, in the U. S. specifically, it's much more quicker and streamlined. It used to take, again, a lot longer than nine to 12 months. Now it can be done, you know, one to three months, again, depending on the brand category.
Brooke: Because again, hair care can take much longer because of the different ingredients and the lab testing that needs to be done. Um, Saudi does take a little bit longer than most. Um, they have, I guess, more stricter policies in place. Um, But the GCC regulations are very much on par with EU regulations. [00:15:00] We may have an extra step or two, and slightly stricter in terms of lab testing.
Brooke: Um, but no, they're much quicker than what they used to be over the years. So, you know, if we're looking at, um, we're looking at an average of, say, three to nine months, absolute maximum, no matter how many products you have in, in the range that you're, you're trying to import.
Deanna: Yeah. Interesting. And when you're bringing in a brand, are you definitely bringing them into every country that you cover or are they, do you sort of niche it out based on local expectations or?
Brooke: Well, normally, so we, when we onboard a brand, you know, obviously we do discuss thoroughly every brand for every country. So, you know, what works in Saudi doesn't work in Qatar. What works in Bahrain doesn't work in UAE and vice versa. So you do have to really thoroughly strategize. Um, for every single market, um, because if you take a unit, for example, which is a very, um, much orientated spa brands, it would [00:16:00] do well in destination spas in Saudi Arabia, but, um, we do not have just destination spas in Qatar.
Brooke: So we would look at day spas. We might look at hotel spas or, um, you know, whether it's four or five star hotel, um, so we do strategize, but, um, we do actually maintain exclusivity for 99 percent of our brands for the whole GCC region and the Indian ocean. The only difference is that you have to strategize, um, uh, market wise.
Brooke: Depending on the country you're entering first, um, to see what works and what won't for that brand. But definitely we will, we will approach all, all countries, but in a different way.
Deanna: Thank you for that., In in the answer you just gave you were mentioning destination spas and other sorts of spas with the Iuna brand, for example, but in our earlier conversation, you also mentioned to me, [00:17:00] uh, galleries Lafayette. I'm just wondering if you can explain where these brands retail once you bring them in.
Deanna: Um,
Brooke: No, absolutely. So, um, know, I guess, I guess it really depends on the brand. Not every brand I would say is. specific for a department store. I would say a good portion of them are. Um, but the good thing is, because under Ali Ben Ali Holding, we do have the exclusive franchise rights, um, for the majority of the Middle Eastern countries for Galleries Lafayette.
Brooke: Um, and Galleries Lafayette themselves, they actually have changed their strategy a few times in terms of their brand onboarding process. Um, so although I do have a You have to go through the buyers or my team does when I say they've approached it, you know, they've changed more affordable brands. Um, and it's very similar for your Harvey Nichols and your Bloomingdale's and your Saks Fifth Avenue, where most of them used to just want, um, very high end commercial brands, luxury brands to place in their stores.
Brooke: And now it's completely the opposite because they understand, although we have, um, [00:18:00] one of the highest GDPs in the world, um, You know, the consumer has a higher spend, but they were not previously catering to the consumer who may not have a higher buying power. Now they are, which is fantastic. So, um, you know, any brand from, uh, more of a lifestyle affordable brand can be found in your galleries, Lafayette, as long as it fits the right concept for, for the team there and for the, for the, um, for their concept.
Deanna: Yeah, yeah, thank you. That's very helpful. Um, you've mentioned the Cosmoprof shows several times. Of course, we've both been, um, to various editions. When I show up, um, you know, I do a lot of writing. I'm obviously a podcast host. I'm always, um, I fall under the classification of being a member of the press, right?
Deanna: You mentioned to me in our earlier conversation that your designation is VIP buyer. I'm wondering when you're at a show like Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, what are your [00:19:00] objectives? Tell me how you approach an event like that.
Brooke: Oh, no, of course. So, um, you know, I love going to these exhibitions. I find them very fruitful, very productive. I think we just go to source brands. No. Um, but I like to obviously attend the conferences, the seminars, um, to be able to anticipate market trends. Um, I like. You want upcoming trends that they're forecasting for their region. That's quite interesting.
Brooke: Um, maybe meet localized brands, brands that I've never seen before, because maybe they only have, um, the brand available in their home markets. Um, again, brand sourcing, um, is quite key. I like to look for new partners, new collaborations. Maybe it is with the press too. It's quite interesting. Um, I've met a lot of press over the last couple of years in these exhibitions, where they've also interviewed me for whether it's the EM magazine or what have you.
Brooke: So it's actually quite exciting. Um, and then again, it's really also about expanding knowledge, um, in the key market that [00:20:00] I'm visiting too. Um, again, like I said, you know, I can't, I can't, um, go to every exhibition. Um, throughout the year, but I do like to pick and choose and I go every other year to a different exhibition.
Brooke: Um, but no, I find it very fruitful, very productive. Um, and I learn a lot, you know, it's very engaging for me. Um, and you know, the Cosmoprof team are very welcoming and very helpful and very supportive. So,
Deanna: no, I, I agree with that. That's been my experience as well. I'm wondering for the brand owners listening, how, how should they be showing up at these shows? What would, what would help you? Sure.
Brooke: well, um, again, it depends on the show because again, I think every Cosmoprof show, for example, It is two different clientele, for example, um, Las Vegas show is really dedicated to retailers in, in, um, the U S it's not necessarily for distributors like myself. Um, but whereas if you look at Hong Kong, you look at Bologna, um, [00:21:00] even Bangkok, they're really looking for distributors on a global scale.
Brooke: Um, so I guess, yeah, every exhibition is looking for someone different. Um, And for different markets, but it's, I think it's really good on the customer platform, they'd be to be meeting, um, platform. It's very, um, conducive in terms of helping us source the right brands or the right partners to meet with prior to the shows, um, But again, for brands themselves on, I guess the exhibition that they attend, cause I, I feel from attending so many of them, um, that they're all catering to, um, uh, different caliber of clientele.
Deanna: that's so interesting and I imagine those notes that you've just shared will be useful for other buyers considering attending the events as well. They can, they can borrow your perspective there. That's very helpful. Um, is there anything else you think we should know about what you're, what you're building there at the beauty division of Ali bin Ali or about your work?
Brooke: Well, there is, there's a few secret things that I can't [00:22:00] mention. No, I mean, look, um, you know, this, um, with Ali Ben Ali holding itself, it's a great company to work for. Although I've only been here two years. Um, I do look at, um, you know, staying here for, for a long time. Um, it's quite interesting.
Brooke: Um, you know, they've built themselves from a family business the last 75 years to one of the biggest leading distributors in the whole I mean, we have operations, um, Monaco, we have in Budapest, we're opening in, in, um, in Paris and London very soon. You know, we have everything from, um, luxury watches, jewelry, we have FMCG, um, we have, um, a medical, um, division.
Brooke: Um, we have luxury retail such as your galleries Lafayette, we have fashion, we have many divisions and obviously beauty division which is our newest division too. Um, [00:23:00] but, um, you know what I've created, I really feel like. It's, it's the new niche in the market, although you have many new distributors popping up now and then, um, they all have their own concept, whether it's the same or something different.
Brooke: Um, but you know, I think to make a business work, you need to have the experience, the knowledge and the background, um, to make a company successful. Um, and this is what I love, what I do being in the industry more than 25 years. And I fell in love with the Middle East, hence I've been here for nearly 20 years.
Brooke: Um, but you know, beauty, I mean, I have a deep love for beauty and I love being in this industry. I'm meeting new people, meeting new brands. Um, yeah.
Deanna: Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, Brooke, this was an excellent interview. I'm so glad you could join me today on the CosmoFactory podcast.
Brooke: Thank you, Deanna. It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you for inviting me. [00:24:00]