Romanians spend about EUR750 million on cosmetics a year, 5.5% of which go to dermo-cosmetics (cosmetics mainly sold in pharmacies), according to the data centralized by ZF from companies in this industry. Among the best selling such brands, Ivatherm competes with Vichy (L’Oreal), Bioderma, Avene and LaRochePosay (L’Oreal).
“The dermo-cosmetics market has been stable in the past few years, small brands have been losing ground and leaving the market, while big names are growing,” says Rucsandra Hurezeanu.
“Ivatherm saw 15% growth in Romania in the first half and we estimate the growth rate to continue until the end of the year.”
A physician by training, Rucsandra Hurezeanu launched the Ivatherm dermo-cosmetics brand in 2005, on a market dominated by foreign companies such as Vichy and Avene. She started by studying the properties of the thermal water in Herculane (SW Romania), the oldest spa town in Europe. She then went to France and hired a team of scientists to study the Herculane water and then started production. Today, Ivatherm cosmetics are made in France and sold in Romania, where they can be found on the shelves of about 1,000 pharmacies.
“Exports to the Republic of Moldova and Egypt account for about 10% of our sales. We will begin deliveries to Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Hungary and China this fall. There is a lot of export potential, exports will eventually be bigger than [the sales on] the domestic market.”
The entrepreneur does not say exactly when that will happen. Ivatherm has recently started to sell its products online, and this particular segment of its business generates 10% of sales, Rucsandra Hurezeanu says.
Ivatherm ended last year with 7 million lei (EUR1.6 million) revenue, an increase of 6% on 2014.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)