To identify consumer trends and guide product development efficiently, you need to be curious about the consumer and have “an antenna in your head” focused on their behaviors. This is what Marcelo Zimet, CEO of L’Oréal Brasil, shared in an exclusive conversation with InfoMoney Interview.
For Zimet, in addition to research and formal data sources, it is necessary to have a team attentive to what happens on the streets, on social networks, in points of sale and in other industries besides the one in which you operate. In the case of L’Oreal, it is necessary to look at fashion, food and even health.
One of the examples cited by Zimet is the phenomenon of so-called “slimming pens”. For the executive, the impact of this type of medicine on other industries cannot be underestimated, because it can significantly change consumption habits.
Continues after advertising
“The market still underestimates the impact of weight loss pens. From the moment that some patents fall and they become very accessible to the Brazilian population – I say that there will be no overweight population in a few years in Brazil – this will completely change clothing sizes, the food industry and the beauty industry, because there will be a need for products that help people go through this process [de emagrecimento]”, these.
According to the executive, this type of advance reading originates from apparently specific signs, such as the increase in prescriptions and sales in pharmacies, which are then deepened in conversations with retailers and other links in the chain.
“Sometimes you won’t see the trend through research. It’ll be in line at the pharmacy buying an antibiotic for your daughter. You realize that everyone is buying that medicine. Then, out of curiosity, you ask the clerk, who shares some numbers with you. Then you call the owner of the pharmacy and the guy tells you: ‘It’s really exploding’. Then you go back to the office and say: ‘Guys, pay attention, something is happening’.”
From the discovery, the process can follow two paths: developing new products or readjusting campaigns to needs that may already be partially covered by the current portfolio.
Strategy in Brazil: focus, simplification and scale
When projecting the next years for L’Oréal Brasil, Zimet states that the main challenge is to reduce the dispersion of initiatives and concentrate efforts on fronts with large-scale potential. According to him, the size of the operation and the complexity of the country require focus.
“There came a certain point when we opened many fronts – the team is very creative. Now, we are in a two-month exercise of letting go, giving up on projects that we understand are more difficult to scale”, he says.
Continues after advertising
In practice, this will include portfolio simplification, reduction of small projects and prioritization of launches with the capacity to gain national relevance, taking advantage of the “benefit of scale” of the – giant – Brazilian market.
Regarding brand launches and expansion, Zimet states that L’Oréal Brasil, which has 23 brands under its regional umbrella, operates with financial discipline and avoids bringing in new names at the expense of taking investment from already established and growing brands.
Read more:
Continues after advertising
Today, the executive estimates that at least five or six brands in the global portfolio – which brings together around 40 names – have a strong potential to adhere to the Brazilian market. The entry decision, however, is calibrated on a case-by-case basis.
“We have a culture at L’Oréal that is: each brand has to sustain itself. I will not stop investing in a brand that is doing well to invest in a new brand.”
According to Zimet, the focus for the coming years combines organic growth, intensified search for trends, consolidation of projects with social impact (such as initiatives linked to diversity and the use of biomethane in transport) and a more rigorous selection of which battles – in categories, brands and segments – L’Oréal Brasil intends to fight.
Continues after advertising
Inspiring the world
In L’Oreal reaffirms the importance of the Brazilian operation for the French conglomerate – which had revenues of more than 44 billion euros in 2025 – not only in generating revenue, but in research and product development, serving as a “source of inspiration” for other geographies.
Brazil is one of the three or four largest beauty markets in the world, alternating positions with Japan, depending on exchange rate factors. However, relevance is not just numerical. “The Brazilian market is relevant, firstly because it is a strategic market, but also because it is an inspirational and very creative market for the L’Oréal Group.”
While, in other countries, categories such as skin and makeup lead consumption, in Brazil the centrality is in hair and fragrances. This difference makes the country a testing ground for solutions and narratives adapted to the importance of hair as the main form of aesthetic expression.
Continues after advertising
Zimet reports that, in the case of Garnier’s facial moisturizers, the project, initially designed only for Brazil, ended up becoming one of the brand’s biggest global launches, after other countries observed the local performance and the format of the campaign.
Competition, local brands and tax fair play
When asked about competition, Zimet recognizes the importance of local players, such as Natura and Grupo Boticário, and states that L’Oréal has been closing the gap on the leaders, also supported by a more balanced regulatory environment.
“There are two big players in Brazil that we respect a lot: Natura and O Boticário. They helped develop the beauty market in Brazil. […] With the tax reform, there will be no depending on where the company has a factory, DC (distribution center) or whether it works with a category that is classified in one way or another. The most imposing part [da Reforma] it will generate fair play that, perhaps in the past, did not exist”, he declared.
Furthermore, regarding the role of – such as cosmetics brands that bear the name of influencers –, Zimet assessed that, although they bring innovations in language and format, they face limitations in research and development investments, a step that he considers decisive to sustain brands in the long term in a competitive market.
