| Monday, November 12, 2001, updated at 09:04(GMT+8) |
Estee Lauder Chief Foresees Bigger Market, More Competition inChina |
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The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. President Red Langhammer predicts that China's WTO accession will bring about an "exciting time" to international cosmetic giants as competition in the market intensifies.
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The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. President Red Langhammer predicts that China's WTO accession will bring about an "exciting time" to international cosmetic giants as competition in the market intensifies.
He said during an interview with Xinhua that China's WTO accession will hopefully reduce inefficient bureaucracy in market access, thus making it less expensive for the government, as well as the industry, with benefits being finally passed on to consumers in lower prices.
China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Saturday evening as Langhammer was on a business trip to Beijing.
He said the WTO accession will encourage foreign capital to build more distribution networks in China. As more department stores and high-quality stores being built, Estee Lauder can expand its business along with that.
The United States-based Estee Lauder Companies entered Chinese market a decade ago. It has introduced two brands into China, Estee Lauder and Clinique. It also uses China as a supply base for the components and ingredients of its products around the world. This year, the company is purchasing about 100 million U.S. dollars worth of materials from China.
"As China become more active in the global family, there is so much to be learned from China and its rich history," he said, adding that adaptability and consistency in performance are the key to the success of the company in Asian market.
"we are long-distance runners, we are not 100-yard sprinters," he said.
The company has developed a strategy to build a long-term relations with the Chinese suppliers and distributors and create reputation, credibility of its brands in the country.
Estee Lauder, which has had some 25-30 percent shares of the upper-sector global market, is to double its global business over the next few years and will let its Chinese partners get a major share of it.
Due to the company's outstanding performance in promoting cultural and economic links between China and the United States, it received the Macro Polo Award presented by Chinese authorities this week. The award is jointly sponsored by China and the U.S. and is awarded to one American company every year.
"Macro Polo took the credible knowledge about China back to the West and educated people. I think maybe in the future we can play a little part in showing the very interesting culture of China people have not seen before," Langhammer said.
He predicts that the Chinese cosmetic market will be "tremendous" in ten years, noting that China has a great group of professional people who are more and more interested in
international fashion.
He said Chinese young people are full of curiosity and dynamic. China's tremendous labor pools, including a great number of professional educated people, will help draw in investment.
"We will expand our business here and employ a great number of local talents," he said.
He said competition in the Chinese market is not yet as intensive as in the world market. "But soon it will be."
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