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18 September 2015 | beautystorebusiness.com In the years prior to our ownership, Mavala USA would sell about 20,000 units of STOP per year. We're on pace for 200,000 units this year—and we're just scratching the surface. We're studying our analytics and statistics, recognizing the gap in the marketplace. In doing so, we implement our strategy, and our sales and volume are directly reflective of that. Double-Lash is our next highest-volume item. It was introduced in 1967 and is now under Mavala's new Eye-Lite line to move into the niche of eye care. It's an enhancer for the eyelashes and brows, utilizing all-natural nutrients and protein to hydrate hair that is damaged from normal drying and UV rays. It allows lashes to stay healthy longer, which creates lusher, fuller, thicker lashes. No one paid attention to that product, by and large, until 2008, when Latisse came along. But Latisse has possible side effects. Double-Lash, being an all-natural formula, has had no known side effects since 1967. However, that pre- scription product has driven more people to Double-Lash and creates more buyers. Double-Lash is the original, and we continue to see record growth. Finally, Mavala Scientifique is the original product invented by our founder, Madeleine Van Landegham. She wanted to create a product that would harden the tips of her nails because as a scien- tist her hands came into contact with a lot of damaging chemicals. In 1958, the company Mavala was born with Mavala Scientifique. It's the original penetrating nail hardener, and today, almost 60 years later, it's still the No. 1 selling product globally for Mavala. Our other top sellers in the states are Nailactan, Mava Flex Serum, Mavaderma, 002 Protective Base Coat, Colorfix, and our concealers. Besides STOP, the others are pretty much equal to each other in terms of volume in the states—units sold per month on average. How does your approach differ in the United States compared with Europe? Bill: The marketing strategy in the states is definitely different than the global strategy for Mavala Switzerland because of our technological advancements ver- sus the rest of the globe. Here, we can reach people with a cutting-edge market- ing strategy thanks to channels such as social media, which aren't necessarily as prevalent or available in other areas of the world. Marketing globally is more traditional; whereas ours is designed to reach the masses via the Internet and the tools it offers. Please tell us about your company's structure. Bill: We have the exclusive master dis- tribution license for the United States. Our company headquarters is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we cur- rently have three distribution facilities strategically placed throughout the United States. Our sales structure consists of independent rep groups as well as a national sales team managed directly by Mavala USA. Mavala is currently in more than 4,000 brick-and-mortar pharmacies; beauty salons and spas; orthodontic, dental and pediatric offices; and beauty stores—including approximately 500 ULTA Beauty stores—as well as online retailers. What beauty trends are you noticing right now? Bill: With close to 60 years of innovative scientific beauty research, we remain at the forefront of beauty trends year after year. The trend we see is once again toward natural nail care upon which the foundation of Mavala was built. Additionally, travel and leisure retail is once again seeing growth from years prior. It's another channel we're starting to pur- sue. We currently sell in duty-free globally, but not in the states, the Caribbean or Central America. Therefore, Mavala will be exhibiting at the Tax Free World Asso- ciation World Exhibition & Conference on Oct. 18-23 in Cannes, France. TFWA is the world's biggest duty-free and travel retail association, and we'll discuss how we can possibly gain placement in travel and leisure, which encompasses hotels, duty-free, cruise ships, etc. The Swiss are already doing this, so it's just a matter of us playing catch-up. Do you have any advice for beauty retailers? Bill: Stay committed to focusing on quality brand relationships that vigorously protect the brick-and-mortar beauty industry from unauthorized online retailers and MAP violators—all while remaining focused on education at the point of sale. What have been your greatest challenges and successes since purchasing Mavala USA? And how are you spreading the word about the company in the United States? Stacie: When we purchased Mavala, we were faced with the daunting task of taking a company with decades of sales and history into the 21 st century by fully automating and going paper- less. The old system was set in stone so to speak. But we knew that in order to reach the goals of new ownership we would need a fully automated, paperless system that would be the pillar of our infra- structure moving forward and provide maximum opportunities for sustainable future growth. "Our nail polish is coming to America in the fall. Over the next 18 months, the beauty industry will [know] Mavala Minis." Images courtesy of Mavala USA