At a time when companies are still up and running, but normal routines have been disrupted and business plans postponed or cancelled, we have posed a couple of basic questions :

How is your company facing the consequences of Coronavirus outbreak?

As a result of the impact of the Coronavirus, what kind of support would you expect to be forthcoming from external organisations that have an impact on your business, such as Public Institutions, Media Companies, Events Organisers, Importers/Exporters, Distributors etc..?

Opinion from France

Here are some replies from French Companies:

Cosmecare – France

Eric Famechon, Directeur Export Cosmecare

“Since January we have suffered many consequences for our trading company Complement’Hair, which specializes in solutions for hair loss (wig, hair toupee, etc.), which imports and exports many products from Asia,” says Eric Famechon, Directeur Export Cosmecare. ”We have experienced delayed delivery times, damaged products and complete stop of certain productions for several weeks. We have anticipated these disruptions by increasing our stocks and this allows us to maintain total fluidity in our supplies for our customers. For Coiffance Professionnel, our company specialised in cosmetic products for hair salons (coloring, hair care, etc.), we manufacture 100% of our products in France in our factory in Alsace, which does not have an impact on our domestic market at the moment, but our exports are already suffering from the situation in the Asian countries where we are strongly present (China, Japan, Malaysia…). International events like Cosmoprof have been postponed and this generates significant costs for a company like Coiffance Professionnel. Tickets, hotels, booths and especially the waste of times for our teams, represents an impact on our activity and will affect our results in the first months of the year,” continues Mr Eric Famechon

“For the moment, we are waiting to see if France will move to stage 3 of the epidemic and we will follow the eventual restrictions for our companies. We must respond to the concerns of our 150 collaborators calmly and, using the tools made available to us by the government, which are simple and clear. The government and the Ministry of Economy are very active on this subject. They immediately set up measures to support SMEs economically with the BPI, the Banque de France or other organizations and procedures for information on the situation of activity in the Chinese provinces. The organizers of trade fairs prefer to postpone the events for the moment, but we would sincerely have preferred a cancellation, because this means that we have to modify calendars that are already busy”.


Kevin Murphy – France

Vincent Tercé, General Manager – GM France

“At Kevin Murphy – France and Groupe, we follow the rules of precaution. We are informing all our teams about basic health principles in order to limit risks: we avoid shaking hands, we avoid kissing, we limit non-compulsory journeys”,” says Vincent Tercé, General Manager – GM France. At this stage, we do not cancel the events of large gatherings and scrupulously follow the directives of the various governments. For the moment, we follow to the the indications coming from health authorities and are duly following their recommendations. We look at the future, staying calm and cautious, this guides our daily life in order to provide adequate solutions for all our employees, but also to better inform our customers. We expect the greatest transparency and also composure in the way information are forwarded and a clear recommendation to be very cautious about our health”.


Opinions from Spain

Here are some replies from Spanish companies

Extracare [Mediterraneally Natural] Spain

Victor Camon Export Manager at Extracare.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been affected by the postponement of Cosmoprof Bologna. We were about to have a new product launch and different meetings already confirmed that hopefully we will be able to hold in the next edition,” says Victor Camon Export Manager at Extracare. “On the other hand, fortunately this has been the only inconvenience we’ve faced. Our brand has a new international & digital strategy development. This focuses especially on the European market and our own digital strategy, so this represent an advantage that has made us be stable at the moment.

“The main support we need to receive is reducing this tragic news about Corona Virus. Media have a lot to do with that as they are sharing really dreadful news about the current situation, which makes the consumer more skeptical and scared about what is going on. We are determined not to talk about this at the moment. We need to concentrate on what we are good at, which is manufacturing and selling Hair and Skincare products, we can’t talk or decide what’s the best about Corona Virus, there are experts to work on that. We understand then, that this is what the main support institution, media companies or event organizer shall do: focus in their core business and don’t share more catastrophic news with consumers, as this stops the economy.”

KIN Cosmetics – Spain

Borja Robleda – KIN Cosmetics Export Manager

“Due to the appearance of Coronavirus in Europe in the last weeks, our company has decided to postpone temporarily the arranged prospect trips that were scheduled in Europe and Middle East. However, we do not expect to postpone it for longer than 1 month, when we hope that the outbreak of the virus will be much more under control,” says Borja Robleda – KIN Cosmetics Export Manager. “On the other hand, we have not seen any impact on the orders of our existing clients, which are mainly concentrated in Europe and America. As a conclusion, due to our inferior presence in Asia, we expect to have a minor impact in our International Sales for 2020.

This particular situation has much more to do with the Health Care system of each different country, than events organizers, media companies, etc.. Little can be done from their side. Obviously, it is very relevant though to offer the highest security measure in all the Beauty Events, to guarantee the safety as much as possible.”


Opinions from UK

Takara Belmont United Kingdom

Mr. T Hoshina Managing Director Takara Belmont (UK) Ltd.

“At this point in time, we’ve experienced no disruption to our supply chain and our ability to function globally has not been impacted by the Covid-19 virus,”
says Mr. T Hoshina Managing Director Takara Belmont (UK) Ltd. “Like any global company we continually monitor the situation and have plans in place that will enable us to respond and adapt to prevailing circumstances, such as the cancellation of the Cosmoprof Bologna exhibition. We think it’s important for all partners involved in the industry to maintain open communications to alert businesses of any circumstance that may affect normal operations and, of course, we will endeavour to do the same.”