Firmenich’s Guangzhou studio taps into southern startups
18 Nov 2021 --- Hailed as the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, Firmenich has recently showcased its new customer experience studio in China’s port city, Guangzhou. Marking the company’s latest expansion in China, the studio is Firmenich’s first integrated sensorial center in South China.
“China is a unique and dynamic marketplace, one that is in the midst of transforming itself from a producer economy into a consumer economy,” Alec Xu, Senior Commercial Director of Firmenich China shares.
“The opening of Studio Guangzhou marks our geo expansion that extends our footprint into the south of China,” Xu notes, detailing why the company chose the location to open its new studio. “China’s vastness means there is a healthy and largely untapped mixture of startups and smaller players beyond the big cities, particularly in the south and in the west, which have the potential to become very big.”
Studio Guangzhou is the hub for Firmenich’s customers in South China and is an integral part of its network of research and development, commercial activities and supply. “Southern China is very dynamic and is a growing market with great potential,” says Xu. In recent years, Firmenich has seen a lot of its customers come from the south of the country. As a result, the company’s sensorial center is an investment that it hopes will enable it to be close to its target markets and its customers.
By building its studio in Guangzhou, Firmenich aims to meet the expectations of its Chinese customers and, in particular, reach out to consumers in the south of China. “Studio Guangzhou allows Firmenich to respond with agility to local consumer and customer demands, with tailored fragrance solutions in this fast-growing region,” highlights Xu. “As an example, with the Diffusion Booths and Ideation Lab at Studio Guangzhou, the team will be able to focus on delivering a superior sensorial experience.”
The facility focuses on immersing customers in emerging trends, technologies, and sensorial experiences that are grounded in Firmenich’s consumer insights. The company’s creations team will help customers leverage its network of global perfumers for their local creations.
Alongside this, Firmenich’s commercial and marketing divisions will focus on supporting client services with deep local consumer research to understand market preferences. “As a result, customers will be able to co-create tailor-made solutions for the evolving tastes of their consumers, in the form of best-in-class creations and innovations,” Xu details.
While ever-evolving, when it comes to what Chinese consumers are demanding from fragrances, confidence is key. “Consumer confidence remains optimistic, rallying around the growing influence of ‘China pride’ sentiments,” Xu explains. “Chinese brands are reinventing tradition into modern concepts, with Designed-by-China-for-China brands trusted for their quality, authenticity and unique understanding of the Chinese culture, ingredients and recipes.”
In the fine fragrance segment in China, consumers are searching for creativity and signature, which explains the growth of the niche market, as well as its quest for novelty. “There is an element of storytelling through perfume that is very important to the Chinese,” says Xu. “They believe international brands do not capture local trends and lifestyle or offer products designed for Chinese. They like being able to connect to their heritage through fine fragrance, which is seen as an elegant mode of self-expression.”
Turning global to local and back again
Firmenich hopes to appeal to these trends with its latest studio in Guangzhou. Speed is imperative, though. “Instead of years typically seen in product development lead time for international brands, local brands may take less than three months from concept to launch. Our expansion into the south lets us better support our local customers with a seamless, speedy and agile customer journey, adapted to their needs and structure,” Xu explains.
“We know that our customers expect olfactive creativity from Firmenich that can help them create magic with their consumers,” says Xu. Ultimately, customers want innovation that makes a tangible difference. “In addition, they want superior product benefits that meet consumers’ demanding expectations for hedonistic fragrances that are safe and healthy, while also promoting sustainability and wellbeing.”
The development and unveiling of Studio Guangzhou plays a prominent part in Firmenich's wider marketing strategy in the Chinese market. Studio Guangzhou will support a number of key goals set out in Firmenich’s strategic development plan: growth acceleration and digital transformation; strengthening the Group’s market presence; and ensuring local customers have full access to an authentic sensorial experience that supports aspirations for a positive lifestyle.
“There is clearly no one-size-fits-all solution to such a vast and diverse customer base in China, and our geo-expansion lets our experts become a true extension of our customers’ teams,” stresses Xu.
“We also continue to further develop fragrance culture, and support new categories and markets,” Xu adds. In China, for example, Firmenich has developed a unique operating model where decisions are made by the local teams where local-driven innovation and talent are essential to design products for Chinese preferences and, as Xu notes, “where digital transformation is exponential”.
By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist