Beauty retailer is bound for China
CURRENTBODY, the Manchesterbased retailer for home-based beauty devices, has signed a joint venture with a Singaporean distributor.
The deal with Thakral Corporation will see Currentbody expand into China.
Co-founded by Laurence Newman and Andrew Showman, Currentbody.com specialises in beauty devices for home use.
It is currently home to brands including L’Oreal’s Clarisonic, NuFACE, SmoothSkin, Tria, Wellbox, iluminage and FOREO.
Its online stores serves consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the US and Australia.
Last year the company received £5m private equity backing from NVM as it looked to expand.
For Thakral, the joint venture is part of its effort to further strengthen its position in China’s at-home beauty device market, where it already partners with large brands.
The company said the new venture will provide additional choice for Chinese consumers by introducing existing as well as ‘new-to-China’ brands in a highly customer-service oriented environment. Thakral CEO Inderbethal Singh Thakral said: “Joining hands with CurrentBody will enable us to create a categoryleading position in China’s at-home beauty device market.
“We are looking forward to using our network and strong relationships with various platforms to create true value, together with CurrentBody.”
CurrentBody, meanwhile, sees the deal as a strategic move enabling it to expand into its first Asian market.
“This partnership will place us on a trajectory towards becoming the go-to online platform for at-home beauty devices globally,” CEO Laurence Newman said.
Global beauty research firm Kline states that the global at-home beauty device market reached $2.1bn in 2017, with Asia, and China in particular, showing the strongest growth.