Chinese Beauty Giant S'YOUNG Acquires EviDenS de Beauté, Marking a New Height of CP Cooperation

On July 17, S'YOUNG Group Co., Ltd. (S'YOUNG, the Company) (300740.SZ) officially announced an equity acquisition agreement with EviDenS de Beauté, a French luxury skin care brand. EviDenS de Beauté retains independent operation of the brand and the team after the acquisition.

As a trusted and preferred China Partner for global beauty brands, S'YOUNG is committed to building win-win partnerships with overseas brands and sharing a long-term value in connecting and growing in the Chinese market. With EviDenS de Beauté, S'YOUNG leveraged the original “CP” (China Partner + Couple) cooperation model and empowered the French brand through an all-encompassing approach, providing all-dimensions and omni-channel support, thus helping the brand to go from 0 to 1 in the Chinese market and build up the unique luxury brand image. The acquisition marks a deepening of the CP cooperation model, and a higher level of cooperation in equity acquisition, investment, and strategic collaboration according to the wishes and needs of the overseas brand.

New Impetus of Long-term Success After the Acquisition

While the acquisition gives S'YOUNG a controlling stake of the French company, Charles-Edouard Barthes, founder and chief executive officer of EviDenS de Beauté, will remain a shareholder and the company will retain its independence and current team.

Charles-Edouard Barthes, born in an ancient aristocratic family in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, founded the brand in 2007 and used the family crest with a history of more than 800 years as the brand logo. EviDenS de Beauté is a luxury skin care brand combining Japan's cutting-edge cosmetic expertise with world-renowned French elegance, loved by consumers worldwide for its anti-aging benefits developed specifically for sensitive skin. With a high-end positioning, the brand's main products range between RMB 1,000 and 3,000, offering various categories such as masks, lotions, creams, essences, sunscreens and anti-aging products. After being acquired by S'YOUNG, EviDenS de Beauté is ready to enter a new strategic development stage in China while maintaining the independent operation, and inject a strong impetus for further success in the global beauty market.

Original CP Model for Overseas Brands to Grow Rapidly from 0 to 1 in China

Before collaborating with S'YOUNG, EviDenS de Beauté had faced challenging situations in the Chinese market, including price disorder: a large number of individual merchants on e-commerce platforms bought samples of EviDenS de Beauté and sold them sporadically at low prices. To better develop in the Chinese market, EviDenS de Beauté chose S'YOUNG as its partner, which has 16-year experience in beauty brand management. The “CP” model of S'YOUNG not only acts as a sales agent for EviDenS de Beauté, but also reorganizes the brand positioning, image, and strategic development planning, empowering EviDenS de Beauté in all business elements and all sales channels.

With an accurate understanding of the Chinese beauty market, S'YOUNG precisely positioned EviDenS de Beauté as a French anti-aging luxury brand for sensitive skin, engaged the famous well-preserved actress Li Ruotong for endorsement, and held a brand launch in the Rosewood Hotel, a SPA collaboration partner, to establish the brand image. After that, S'YOUNG helped the brand cooperate with a series of Chinese hit TV shows and popular entertainment programs, covering the high-income female group in China through precise target group matching, which greatly enhanced the brand's reputation and influence. On social media, S'YOUNG reached out to top KOLs committed to skin care to co-produce high-quality content around topics such as brand origins, user experience and product efficacy, creating a complete brand story and a distinctive brand image for EviDenS de Beauté, and establishing it as a popular luxury brand on Chinese social media. In addition to online promotion, EviDenS de Beauté has also been expanding its offline channels, including SKP, Galeries Lafayette, Joyce beauty, Sephora, and other high-end channels, which further enhances Chinese consumers' perception of EviDenS de Beauté's premium positioning.

With the help of S'YOUNG, EviDenS de Beauté has been growing rapidly in the Chinese market, which now occupies a large proportion of its sales, and its hero product is ranked Top 2 in high-end facial masks by Tmall of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in China. This is owing to S'YOUNG breaking the traditional single-channel sales model of agents. The new model integrates all business elements, covers all sales channels, connects the whole business chain, and makes concerted efforts in all respects such as brand, product, market, channel, and supply chain, finally realizing the leapfrog development of EviDenS de Beauté in China.

A New Phase of Development for Overseas Beauty Brands in China

As a preferred Chinese partner for global beauty brands, S'YOUNG has cooperated with more than 30 overseas brands, covering skin care, make-up, personal care, fragrance, health care, and men's grooming. The cooperative brands cover many countries and regions from North America, Europe, and the Middle East, including the French cutting-edge laboratory brand LIERAC, the Italian make-up brand KIKO MILANO, the Finnish national skin care brand LUMENE, and the prestige perfume brand AMOUAGE, etc., a testament to S'YOUNG ‘s strength in diversification and international operation. In 2019, S'YOUNG reached a strategic partnership with Johnson & Johnson to fully undertake the e-commerce business of 14 brands under Johnson & Johnson in the Chinese market, which turned out to be a great success for Dr. Ci:Labo, Listerine and many others.

The unique “CP” cooperation model created by S'YOUNG has two layers of meaning. The first layer is China Partner. What S'YOUNG provides for the brands is not a traditional online sales channel or operations service, but an empowerment with all-dimensions and omni-channel capabilities. Second, CP means couple, representing a marriage-like partnership. S'YOUNG believes that only a long-term and win-win partnership will enable both parties share the value of market growth. This is how S'YOUNG has helped overseas brands start and grow bigger and stronger in China. With respect for the partners and their value, S'YOUNG empowers international niche beauty brands to develop and maximize their value in China. Now, S'YOUNG is also ready to support equity acquisition, investment and strategic collaboration at the request of partner brands, offering diversified and flexible assistance to fully meet the needs of brands throughout their life cycle in China.