No need for wrinkles despite the Covid pandemic

Austrian cosmetics producers can succeed on the international beauty market also during times of crises.

j by Britta Biron

When people talk about the beauty of Austria, they usually mean its scenery. However, the formula Austria = Beauty seems to come undone when it comes to beauty in terms of cosmetics. Even though there are no Austrian cosmetics companies that are in the same league as international beauty giants such as Estée Lauder or L´Oréal, size isn’t everything.

Hyaluronic acid makes everything run smoothly

It’s not rare to see medium-sized Austrian businesses among the world market leaders in various industries, like furniture fittings (Julius Blum), cable cars (Doppelmayr), LED systems (Lumitec) or plastic packaging (Alpla). However, there are also home-grown companies in the beauty business getting in on the global act.

Corma Pharma is among the leading producers of hyaluronic acid injections, without which minimally-invasive aesthetic medicine – a field that has been expanding in previous years – would quite literally not be able to run smoothly. Alongside the professional products, which are developed and manufactured in the factory in Leobendorf, Lower Austria, and more than 12 subsidiaries and numerous distribution partners in over 70 countries, this family business has also included skincare products for the end consumer in its range. This product range was enlarged last year by a liquid hyaluronic acid mask and this summer by five special serums added to its Farewell range. Parallel to the latest launch, an online shop for consumer products in the most important markets also opened.

Big player in eyelashes and eyebrow styling

GW Cosmetics is another Austrian world market leader in the field of dyes as well as care and styling products for eyebrows and eyelashes; a booming market for many years now. RefectoCil and Beauty Lash serve the professional and consumer sectors. Then there is also the luxury natural cosmetics brand Master Lin in the product range, and GW Cosmetics is also successful in the private label sector. Altogether, the company makes 700 products in its factory in Leopoldsdorf and has an annual production output of around 25 million units.

While the Covid pandemic led to big losses for several large cosmetics brands, it didn’t have a negative impact on GW Cosmetics. Very much to the contrary. In 2020, turnover went up by around 23 percent to 32 million euros and it was able to continue its growth trajectory. “We’re very pleased with this. We owe this success on the one hand to our employees who worked throughout the lockdown and on the other hand to our sales and private label partners, who also tirelessly fought hard for our customers during the pandemic,” says Beatrice Cox-Riesenfelder, who runs the company along with owner Rainer Deisenhammer.

The closure of hair and cosmetics salons in many markets did at times seriously impact professional business, the largest business sector. However, the demand for consumer products increased

GW Cosmetics is one of the global market leaders in brow and eyelash styling.

significantly, in large part because having to wear a facemask really brought the eye area, and thus eyelashes and eyebrows, into the foreground. “We managed to ascertain this in particular in the UK, in Australia, South America and Eastern Europe. Online sales also experienced a boom and influencers gave some products a real boost,” says Cox-Riesenfelder.

In order to gear up for further expansion, product capacity, the development laboratory as well as administration will be upgraded. GW Cosmetics will invest five to six million euros in the expansion of the factory in Leopoldsdorf.

A fresh boost from Styria

This year, Ringana has managed to take a big step in its expansion. Recently, this successful producer of premium fresh cosmetics (care and cleansing products for skin and hair) as well as dietary supplements moved its headquarters from Hartberg to St. Johann in der Haide, where its warehouse and production sites are also located. The Ringana campus has received investment totalling 70 million euros and will be co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. It will have a high-performance distribution and shipping station added to it, so that logistics operations can keep up with the rapid growth, which not even the Covid pandemic has managed to halt. “Despite the pandemic presenting a challenge for us, we were able to increase our turnover by 38 percent to 160 million in 2020. Of course, we would like to achieve such pleasing numbers again this year. Our goal is 220 million euros and based on the first months of this year, we are optimistic that we can achieve this,” says Andreas Wilfinger, who founded the company together with his life and business partner Ulla Wannemacher in 1996 and has since been running it.

They already export to 34 countries; the current export ratio is already 64 percent and rising. The focus is on European countries but also on those further abroad, such as Hong Kong, where Ringana already has enthusiastic customers. Its growth potential lies in the expansion of existing markets but also in the development of new ones. “An increasing number of people are looking for honest beauty products, which can be produced without additives or artificial preservatives, which avoid microplastics and are vegan. We decided to have this in our products from the very start, even if there was no foreseeable trend in that direction,” explains Wannemacher. “Now we have a head start in quality and know-how, which is reflected in our products”.

To make sure that this doesn’t change in future, a lot is invested in their own research and development and new discoveries in the field of plant-based agents. Production procedures are also continuously being monitored. “The staff in our research department is required to think outside of the box and to create the best products that don’t seem easily possible. They are neither limited when it

© Ringana

Ringana was able to continue its rapid growth of previous years during the Covid crisis.

comes to costs nor the choice of the raw materials. Regular reformulating and new formulating guarantees that Ringana products always offer maximum performance and are based on the latest scientific methods. Our only goal is to create high-end products,” explains Wilfinger.

Ringana also sets itself high standards as an employer. In the year of the Covid pandemic, 100 new people were employed and this year it will also be significantly expanding its workforce. It is looking for specialist staff as well as apprentices and its training programme has been remarkably expanded. Alongside office administration and operations logistics, there are now also apprenticeships in the fields of metal, engineering and process technology as well as information technology and laboratory technology. Wilfinger isn’t concerned about not being able to find enough interested people (in other words: a lack of skilled staff), he says: “Aside from a highly modern, new workplace and large development potential, we offer our employees a lot of benefits, such as free vegetarian lunches in our new Ring(lunch) canteen, an occupational health doctor and free public transport tickets for the Vienna area, to name but a few. Additionally, we have our own staff development programme, which is constantly being improved based on feedback offered by our employees.”

Innovative formulas from grapes from the Wachau region…

There are examples demonstrating that even small businesses that are starting to establish themselves on the highly competitive beauty market won’t fail during big crises. One such example is Die Nikolai, an ambitious newcomer in what is the long-time booming niche market of ecological, sustainable and natural care products. It has received an extra boost thanks to the Covid pandemic.

“Five years ago, we delivered the first natural beauty products which were made from unused raw materials from the Nikolaihof vineyards. Since then, our products have been showcased in nine countries, in more than 150 organic and natural cosmetics shops as well as health food stores,” says an overjoyed Martin Saahs, founder and CEO of the Demeter-certified grape cosmetics from the Wachau Valley region. “2020 wasn’t easy for anyone on the market. We are still noticing the drop in customers and lack of desire to buy on the retail market. Nevertheless, we can see that regional, Austrian products were also in demand during the crisis.”

Since the beginning, the range on offer has been substantially expanded and today comprises skincare for face and body, shower and bath gels, shampoo, hand and foot lotions, anti-ageing serums as well as special products for babies and children. Sustainability and naturalness didn’t only determine the ingredients but also the packaging. The ingredients being grapevine water, grape seed oil, lime-tree blossom, elderberry seed oil or saffron in 100% organic quality, which originate from the same factory and are processed on site. The packaging is made of glass or aluminium and is therefore recyclable and free from microplastics and chemicals.

…and fresh whey from Upper Austria

Another home-grown cosmetics start-up which couldn’t be held back by the crisis is Vielö from Sattledt in Upper Austria. The cleansing and care products for hands and body are whey-based and certified organic. They are therefore subject to significantly stricter legal regulations than natural cosmetics. In the beginning – the first products were launched in late 2018/early 2019 – founders Christian Paunzenberger and Alexander Daspersgruber had to do a lot of explaining, as both product groups were often wrongly “lumped together”. Nevertheless, according to Paunzenberger it was possible to “quickly develop Vielö into a high-quality and uncompromising organic, sustainable skincare alternative for demanding and critical customers, who expect more than just a nice label. This has only been possible thanks to our wonderful partners.” The pan-

© dieNikolai DieNikolai is the only Demeter certified grape-based cosmetics brand in the world.

The organic cosmetics brand Vielö is expanding its range of cleansing and care products for hands, body and hair this year with a skincare line for complexion.

demic certainly didn’t halt this encouraging development, but it did adversely affect it. Almost all retail, restaurant and hotel partners were closed and had sufficient stock and little demand for extra deliveries after lockdown.

“We therefore had production costs for quantities that we were in large part unable to sell to our partners. This was by all means a challenge, but one that we were able to meet thanks to our constant internationalisation and the breadth of our partnerships within sales,” explains Paunzenberger. He also points out that thankfully there were also positive outcomes during the pandemic: “The coronavirus caused a huge change in purchasing behaviour as increasing numbers of consumers looked for high-quality, authentic, regionally produced and sustainable alternatives.” A big advantage was that hand hygiene became so important. “When people started washing their hands a dozen times a day with our hand soap and realised that it didn’t dry out their skin, this had positive implications for our hand care products as well as our other items, such as body wash and shampoo.”

Vielö sells its products in its own online shop as well as via more than 75 partners in Austria and Europe. “The export share is currently 20 percent with a tendency to increase greatly. However, this doesn’t mean that we will neglect the domestic market and our roots here. Vielö is designed and made in Austria, which means Austria will continue to be hugely important to us.” Paunzenberger sees great potential for growth on the domestic market as well as internationally. True to the brand, this should occur in a sustainable way: “We are very selective when choosing which partners we collaborate with and form partnerships based on common values and principles.” The range on offer is also being expanded.

A to-go line with hand balm, body peeling and body lotion in 50ml tubes has been newly launched. A refill system, which has already been successfully established in the b2b sector will shortly be extended to the b2c products, and this year a complete skincare line will also be launched.

Austria carries out research with Chanel

Last but not least, local science is also getting heavily involved in the international cosmetics business. Since the end of 2020, the Medical University of Vienna, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences and the Vienna University of Technology, together with the French luxury brand Chanel, have joined forces in the Christian Doppler Laboratories. They are researching the interplay between metabolism, cell communication and cellular quality control in accelerated skin ageing caused by environmental stress in order to create the foundations for more effective anti-ageing products. Another goal for the research team is the development of new methods to track the signs of ageing on healthy people’s skin in an easy, quick and pain-free way. ◆