COSMOFACTORY

Deanna and Omar
Deanna: [00:00:00] This episode is about brand growth strategy. It's about finding ingenuity at the intersection of consumer insights and industry trends. It is about introducing a brand to consumers in a new regional market, and it's a little bit about bees. Today here on the CosmoFactory Podcast, I'll be talking with Omar Touma, business development director at Beesline International.
Omar, welcome to CosmoFactory.[00:01:00]
Omar: Thank you so much for having me on this episode. To be honest, I've learned so much from previous podcasts and I'm looking forward for this exchange.
Deanna: Thank you. It's so kind of you to say that I'm, I'm very glad you're here and I, I'm sure listeners will learn quite a lot from you as well. Um, let's start, uh, by helping them learn a little bit about Bees Line International. Um, some of, some of our listeners might not yet be familiar with the brand, um, This is a brand that formulates products with bee ingredients, uh, such as honey beeswax, royal jelly, propolis, and your portfolio comprises most of the basics here, skincare, body care, personal care, as well as sun care. My first question for you, Omar, is beyond the ever important attributes right of quality, efficacy, safety.
What does your customer want to know about B derived ingredients? Are they curious about sourcing? Is it processing? Maybe I'm thinking biodiversity might be important. Is it something else?
Omar: [00:02:00] In fact. Is true that customers are, and consumers are increasingly curious specifically about where be derived ingredients come from. This is usually something on their mind and how they are processed because, uh, uh, for example, B Line is well known for its vegan mission and because we, we are a mission driven organization, um, legally, uh, established as a mission-driven organization.
So this stirs this curiosity around, you know, the, the b derived ingredients, where do they come from and how they're processed. So, um, this is usually the kind of, um, questions, um, comments and discussions that we have with our consumers and our customers. Um, we notice, however, that when people talk about ethical sourcing, usually their mind probably goes to social responsibility such as, uh, you know, fair trade initiatives, uh, or maybe supporting rural communities.
Sometimes empowering even women through beekeeping cooperatives or so, and surely this is a very [00:03:00] important, uh, milestone, uh, something as well that we strongly support. Um, but beyond that, there is a deeper connection to, uh, to answering these questions that we have, uh, we have tried to tap into, which is the, for example, one of these, um, things is related to the ethical beekeeping itself.
So using BE centric practices. Prioritizing the wellbeing of the bees. Uh, avoiding harmful chemical treatments, respecting natural lifecycle of bees, making sure we're harvesting without stressing or disturbing the colony. And, um, this is very important because in fact there are many misconceptions over bees.
Uh, for example, honeybees, uh, when they are managed responsibly and, um, when, when we keep them at a balanced density. There is no threat to the, to that biodiversity. And the fact is the honeybees are not the main drivers of biodiversity. [00:04:00] And this is the misconception that exists today. In fact, the true gardens of biodiversity are the wild bees.
Uh, one fact is that there are around 22,000 species of wild bees in, in the world. And when you compare that to just eight species of honeybees in the world, so 22,000 versus eight, and these wild bees. Mostly solitary. They're efficient pollinators, but unfortunately they are the ones that are endangered, uh, in decline due to urbanization, habitat loss, uh, pesticides and pollution.
And you can, you can imagine the chain reaction that happens due to the, um, declining or shrinking be while b population flora diversity decreases. Then the pH that depends on that flora decreases. So when customers ask us about sourcing, this is a conversation. I'm sure you just noticed that we love to talk about because we find the low level of awareness on the fact that while these are the most essential [00:05:00] and how we, we can help save them and safeguard them.
And while the human aspect supporting communities is essential and we support it as well, but the ecological aspect is even more important to us.
Deanna: Absolutely. Absolutely. That's also interesting. I appreciate you sharing that and I, I think you and I could both talk for quite some time about insect ingredients, but I do want to take advantage of your expertise and focus more on business strategy in this conversation. Before we do that. Exactly. I wanna locate ourselves geographically.
Bees Line is based in Lebanon and distributed to over 20 countries, across the Arabian Peninsula, Northern and West Africa, as well as Europe, including France and Italy. What else should we know to more fully understand the size and reach of this company?
Omar: So in fact, we are a company of around 200 plus employees. We have another one 50, uh, uh, people working, I would say at the distributor side and the field side. Um, we also [00:06:00] are legally present in four co countries. So Biline has legal presence as a, as a company, as a, as a brand, such as in Lebanon, Dubai, China, and France.
Um, we're spread across all the continents. As you have already mentioned. We have six manufacturing sites. As well spreading across the MENA region. Uh, we also have upcoming plant production in Europe, uh, in few years. Um, to mention a few facts about us, the brand is, uh, design brand is really dominant in, uh, specific categories.
We are leaders in specific markets across Middle East, so for example, design is the number one role on the other end in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the largest markets in mena. $3 billion plus, uh, beauty market where we have as well the number one sunscreen and sellout in market share of, uh, Nissan period.
Um, majority market share and lip balm category in our hometown and in few other countries. And, uh, in some other countries like Egypt, uh, we have as well, uh, we are the [00:07:00] number one ranking beauty brand and the largest drug chain. Um, so this is a bit about us. Uh, in the last three to four years, we were really focused on expanding to Europe.
So we entered like maybe around five countries, um, and retailers across these countries as.
Deanna: Wonderful, and we'll certainly talk about your company's expansion into Europe. First, though, I would like to talk through an example of what I call, um, and I'm not the only one to use this expression, but the smart follower strategy. Many s. Medics and personal care brands have been looking for ways to make packaging more sustainable.
Uh, refills often come up as a very compelling solution, but not always the easiest solution, especially when it comes to consumer adoption. Um, I'm hoping you'll tell us how your team approached this challenge. Um, I'm, I'm imagining there was some research, um, and a number of steps involved before you, um, actually launched refillable packaging.
How did you. Figure out, uh, what would work for your consumer and your business?[00:08:00]
Omar: So you are in fact asking a very important question. It's related as well to what we, what might be called the circular beauty product market. So that, that is something really, uh, on the rise at the moment. So to be very honest, yes, uh, we have been listening a lot to the consumer, to the customers. Uh, we've been working on this project for more than 40 years now, three to 40 years, almost, uh, to the point where we have actually developed now our own, uh, offer and our own skin solution when it comes to, uh, personal care and, uh, skincare and refillable powders.
But that journey was not an easy one. So, um, to be honest, um, this journey was really, uh, focused a lot on a very important step, which was listening and observing. Um, we did not want to venture into just, you know, another refill, especially that when we were talking and we saw that refunds have been there for quite some time now.
Um, um, I mean when we were talking to buyers and retailers, for example, that we met at, [00:09:00] at Cosmo Prof and then that we visited in their countries, we saw that. When we were talking about refill, the first reaction they had was not always a very positive one, because their experience with that solution was not necessarily optimum, whether they were buyers or consumers.
Uh, usually when we were saying a refill to someone, uh, what they would imagine was probably a, a large refill bag. Uh, something that's not very practical to use. Uh, maybe something that wasn't as well, very effective necessarily. Uh, I mean, it wasn't always pleasant. Um, and this is why we did a lot of in-depth interviews.
We decided that it was very important for us first to observe what other brands are doing and learn from their mistakes. Now, surely, I mean, not waiting a very long period of time, uh, we were developing our solution, but it was shaped by listening to the consumer, to the buyer, to those customers, and also to seeing what the other brands were failing to do.
And we were able to identify a lot of. [00:10:00] Uh, important, uh, insights, I would say. So the first thing we tried to map were the pain points. Um, what were consumers, uh, facing as obstacles when they were actually trying to use this kind of lethal, or what were the obstacles that were keeping them from switching to such a solution?
These were the things we tried to understand, to learn about, and we identified few important, I would say very important, um, answers to that. So one of them was. I mean, uh, the, the basic question we were getting in consumer, uh, focus groups and in-depth interviews was the first thing they would ask us. Why do I need to, to use that kind of solution?
Why do I need a DIY solution? Why do I need to add a step to my beauty routine? Just try to convince me as a brand so I understand why I need to do that. And I'm, I'm sure you know that the consumers, you know that we have different personas of consumer, so we identified the, the main consumer for that kind of solution.
Definitely the primary audience was what we called the [00:11:00] Echo Warrior. So that Echo Warrior was actually, you know, not that didn't care about the switching cost. Because what they had in mind is, let's save the planet. Let's work on, you know, doing something that is sustainable. Um, so that barrier was crossed.
But the other kind of consumer that, uh, for example, McKenzie labels as the customer Zero, which is a mix of consumer variables that make them customer zero. So they do read a lot, they search a lot. They wanna discover something new, but they need convincing evidence that it would actually be tailored for them.
It was a bit more difficult for them to switch. So that was the first insight, like answering the question, why you need to do this kind of solution and go there. The second pain point was that those who are actually looking at and considering reef refill solutions, um, especially in the, specifically in the powder kind of solution.
So it's either a powder or a pill that dissolves in water and that is used in a container and that kind of area. One of the, the tr the trouble that the troubles that the consumer was facing was the waiting [00:12:00] time. So on average, the waiting time was spreading long hours for this, for the, uh, powder to dissolve or for the mixing to happen, and that was not very pleasant.
So imagine having probably to buy, for example, at the, or on a Monday mixing it and waiting, for example, till late Monday evening or Tuesday morning to use it. I mean, it wasn't very, uh, I would say, um, pleasant or uh, familiar to the consumer to do that.
Deanna: No, and I, I just wanna interject sort of anecdotally. I remember being shown some of the early just add water solutions in the marketplace by some manufacturers. Um, and, and a woman told me that, you know, you would add water and you would shake it and you would, you know, leave it in your shower. And in the, you know, in the morning, or I think it was 24 hours later, you would have shampoo.
And I thought, now I have to remember before I go to bed and to make shampoo. And this, this could be a problem. And I, I'm sure other consumers, you know, had that same concern that, that you're pointing to.[00:13:00]
Omar: Exactly. Yeah. That was exactly what was happening to them. They were like, they were facing these new, I would say, uh, experiences with their beauty product that were new to them. So it wasn't something they were accustomed to. Uh, another, another problem was as well, the fact that they sometimes they didn't even understand what is sustainable about it.
Sometimes we were giving them some solutions that were existing on the market and putting them in front of them. It was kind of a blind, kind of in-depth interview and, uh, without mentioning a specific brand or product or, uh, or name. But then they were like, when I compare this to my actual, current, uh, classical, uh, beauty product, I mean there I'm just using one element here.
I'm using two or three elements. So what is really sustainable about it? And this shows, this showed us as well, one of the pain points was. Lack of clarity and understanding or education on the actual sustainability, uh, of those refill, uh, even, even the refill [00:14:00] bags that were the classical, most, I would say basic refill solutions, were just stamping these, you know, 70% plus plastic, et cetera on their label.
It was just track in front of the consumer. And I remember one consumer. Looking at the bag and comparing it to his actual, uh, personal care, uh, classical product. And the claim was actually just right there on the label, but yet he was asking, you know what, this is a much larger bag, so how come this larger bag is better than my smaller pack?
They didn't really get it. And that gave us insights on, you know, the tackling the indi The education and the, and the solution we offer is extremely important, uh, to make it simple, clear. Maybe providing as well competitives and benchmarks that the consumer that is consumer friendly when it comes to the, to the language.
Like avoiding maybe, you know, large claims that the consumer won't understand. For example, just saying reducing carbon emission by X. This is very important, but I mean, how do they get it? What does it mean?
Deanna: Yeah, I think that's [00:15:00] really smart because if I. Look back at what I've seen, and, and I'm sure you've noticed this too, right? The industry has made these incremental steps, even as I suggested, right? First a product and, and you were pointing to that you have to wait before it's ready and then we make progress, and now you don't have to wait as long with certain powder formulas.
Um. We've, we've had all these ongoing conversations, right? Reducing carbon footprint, uh, less packaging waste, um, maybe, you know, more recyclable or easy return, less transportation. We've had all these conversations. We've done the incremental learning to understand as an industry, as brands, why these solutions are more sustainable.
But we've left the consumer out of a lot of them. I, I think that's an excellent point you're making.
Omar: Exactly, and we, we try to simplify it in our marketing strategy and the, and the way we pitch it even to the buyers. So at one point we were giving them actual examples. So for, for, for one of them we were saying, okay, listen, we're gonna give you a different approach to, to that. [00:16:00] Kind of new brand that we're introducing without mentioning as well the name of our brand.
And we said, listen, if you need this sentence, and we gave them, for example, this is, this is one of the Fed sentences we were testing in terms of sustainability education. So we said if we produce, for example, 4 million units of 50 ml, roll on the ordinance, which is your classical roll on theod that's just in front of you, that is 240 cubic meters of product.
Of which 200, uh, cubic meters are going to, uh, are water. To put this in perspective, it's like filling 1,140 bathtubs. So the consumer was imagining I had 1,140 bathtubs full of water. That is what goes into 4 million units of roll on the orant. Now that simple, basic, um, maybe, uh, naive kind of approach to compare comparison.
Gave the consumer kind of a, of a, of a, of an information that he was like, oh my God, it means like [00:17:00] 1000 bathtubs full of water just to sell 4 million units of the other. And so imagine removing the water out of these 4 million, I'm saving 1000, you know, bathtubs of water. So this is the kind of lingo that we believe was important for us to start using in these, uh, discussions that as well shaped the marketing discussion later.
Deanna: Mm-hmm. Now there's, there's certainly a lot to think about there, and I, I did mention that, uh, we're also going to talk a little bit about expanding into new markets, um, as in terms of brand growth strategy. When we think about brand expansion beyond the MENA region, uh, and into Europe, as you've suggested, um, you know, we have had at least one conversation here on Cosmo Factory so far about the growing global popularity of Arabic fragrance.
Um. In fact, um, at Cosmo Pac in Italy this past March, I got to interview Ralph Buner of Arabian Ood. That was episode 46. In case listeners are interested. Um, but as I understand it, [00:18:00] um, and forgive me if I'm wrong, but Arabic skincare is not yet widely recognized by global beauty consumers in that same way that we might think Arabic fragrance is, is really gaining popularity.
How do you start in a new market
Omar: I mean, that's a very important question to be, to be honest. We, we, it's not very. I mean, there's no, there's no, there's no playbook for launching a Lebanese skincare brand that's coming from the Middle East and Europe. I mean, this is not something that has happened. Uh, it's actually, I was googling this maybe, uh, six months ago.
Uh, and I, I wrote about it on my LinkedIn. I was Googling, which was the first skincare brand from Lebanon to ever enter a French market. B line was the answer of Google. So I mean, yeah, this is something new that we're creating, so there's no playbook for it. I mean, but, but it's very interesting because, uh, you are totally right.
It's a new brand, it's a new category of brand that is entering Europe. And I think today Gen Z is, gen Alpha are less, you [00:19:00] know, sensitive to the geographies and to brand nationalities, and they're more, um, linking themselves to brands that talk to them in fact. We have noticed that when we go to the younger generation, they're even more, they're even looking for these kind of brands.
So this is why when I was visiting some of the countries in Europe and going to to, to the market and to the stores, uh, I was a bit as well intrigued to find, for example, you know, K Beauty taking over some of the stores in, in Romania. So, I mean, this is not, uh, something happening in all of the other markets, but I mean, these consumers do want.
Uh, brand that talk brands that are talking to them. So the first thing we did was to establish, uh, the, the golden four principles that we, we felt were our differentiating and our our differentiation. Strong points. So we had four golden principles that made up our differentiation. Uh, the first one was to always be effective.
So efficacy first. So this is something that most of the brands claim, but I mean, [00:20:00] this is something we cannot play with. Efficacy is essential in beauty. It needs to solve a problem. And the second, uh, principle, and this is where some sustainable beauty brands might compromise its functionality, it. So we tried to learn from the challenging, uh, uh, the challenges that other manufacturers were facing when they were selling echo conscious beauty.
So, sticking a finger, you know, uh, the, the product is not very, uh, stable or compatible with, with its packaging because it's echo conscious. Um, it had maybe sometimes even less expiry dates. Versus the standard, uh, industry and beauty because of its lack of stability or compatibility with the packaging.
So functionality was essential to us, so we would not compromise on functionality, even if we took a bit more time to find the right packaging that is sustainable, that would have less waste, uh, to the landfill. That would be, for example, refillable correctly or recyclable. And it took a bit more time to develop it, but we wanted to make sure it's functional.
The third point was for us [00:21:00] in the third principle. Was beautiful and, and providing wellbeing to the consumer. So it had to add to the overall sense of beauty to their life, to their mind. Um, for example, one of the things that we integrate in our brand is the yellow color. Which has shown to add, uh, uh, something that is very positive to the, to the psychology of the consumers.
And the last point, which is as well, very essential, the fourth prince golden principle for us was sustainability. So we would not just go by tackling the sustainable practice as if we're just looking at sustainability on its own. Rather part of these golden four principles. And this is where we innovated.
So when we were approaching the buyers and the retailers and the customers, we were not approaching them as just talking about Arabian beauty or Lebanese beauty, or we were talking about a b buy product about a vegan company. That that was a bit kind of new as well for them to, to to know about a vegan companies looking to save the wild bees that is providing as well these golden four principles, [00:22:00] learning from the mistakes of other brands, and this is what made us different.
So that was essential for us in our development, uh, strategy.
Deanna: You know, it certainly sounds like a, a lot of work went into establishing a presence, uh, for the brand in Europe and, and since, as I've, I've, I think I've already said more than once, uh, your personal specialty is in business development, so it certainly stands to reason the approach you've shared to refillable beauty, to new market entry or both, uh, compelling business growth strategies.
You know, I'm always hoping the conversations we have here on Cosmo Factory inform and inspire our listeners. So, um. This leaves me wondering as we finish up our, our interview here, I'm assuming that the business learnings, uh, here are, are not about, um, you know, we're not suggesting that every brand should offer a refillable roll on deodorant or even try to be on the same shelf at, you know, at the same retailers where your brand is sold in Europe now.
But what might [00:23:00] business development leaders who are listening now. Take away from the strategies you've shared that they might adapt to the particularities of their company and their customers.
Omar: I would mention maybe something that has helped us succeed today to enter actual, so it's a proven concept that we have used, and I'm sure there are many methods, but maybe this is just one of them. So for us, what worked and I feel is important to share is the importance of focus. So developing a business, the world is vast.
Um, I mean, taking a brand from Middle East to to Europe or to the US or to Asia. I mean is we have maybe 150 countries to develop at the moment. So what we needed to do, and this is something I would, I would share, is to create first the geographic heat map. So that is something very important.
Strategically mapping the countries with clusters and KPIs. Um, mapping that in comparison to our brand, strengthened our brand weaknesses to identify maybe the five most important countries. And this is something that all the organization of Visa was [00:24:00] talking about. Once we establish that, so everybody would answer the question by saying, okay, this is the, the focus of our business development.
We're focusing on these countries. The second one was retailer heat apps. So as well, within these countries, we're talking about large, uh, surfaces. France is around 550,000 square meters, so we still needed to focus as well. So which retailers are the right retailers for us? And then we created the heat map for the retailers with their own KPIs and their indices, and then trying to see which ones we need to really focus on.
And third was selecting a hero item, A hero innovation that we felt was the most different and the best selling, or the one that has the highest probability of differentiation. This was the one that we were pioneering all across our business development strategy, in our pitch decks and our marketing and our B2B uh, regeneration tactics.
So these three levels of focus allowed us to actually get this whatever refill on the market in Europe.
Deanna: No, that makes very good sense. Omar, you're clearly [00:25:00] quite knowledgeable about your work and I thank you for speaking with me today and joining us here on the Cosmo Factory Podcast.
Omar: It was a pleasure to be here, honestly. Thank you so much for having me and I personally podcast from other colleagues.