Simone Pedersen is a great specialist in niche brands. With her company, Red Beauty, she sources her purchases from all over the world for the Asia Pacific region, and particularly for Joyce Beauty in Hong Kong, a high-end store with the most recent beauty innovations. After three years of absence, she will participate as a member of the jury at the Beauty Challenger Awards 2010, and speaks of her vision of the market and competition.

How do you view the positioning of niche brands in the cosmetics market?

Niche brands are important as they tend to be ‘specialized’ in their concept and keep the beauty retail environment fresh. This engages the customer in new trends, technnology, formulas and ingredients.

What is your positioning?

JOYCE BEAUTY is a specialty retailer that delivers the most cutting edge, cult beauty brands to the customer.

What would be your key advice to niche brands?

Ensure from the beginning that you have enough money to invest in developing the brand fully … right through to retail sales. I’ve seen time and time again, the fatal mistakes made by brands that put all their money into development, packaging and presentation, but forget about the cost of marketing a brand in a retail format.

What are the key strengths of the Beauty Challenger Awards?

It brings the most interesting new brands to the buyers’ attention. It’s a great format for a new brand seeking global distribution.

The Beauty Challenger Awards ceremony will be held on 13 September 2010 during the Beyond Beauty Paris exhibition.

Kristel Milet – Chief Editor, Blog