Big and beautiful Farmec

big and bEautiFul

Market-leading Romanian cosmetics and household products manufacturer Farmec is dedicated to developing and producing its well-respected own-brand products that are popular across the world. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to Farmec’s CEO Mircea Turdean to learn more about its investments and ambitious plans for the future.

Located in Romania and active across the world, leading ownbrand cosmetics and household products manufacturer Farmec develops and produces high-quality products under its respected Gerovital brand.

In fact, Gerovital is so well-known that it was voted Romania's number one brand in 2016 and was awarded Superbrands status in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Mircea Turdean said, “The quality of our products has long been rewarded; we are very proud of the regular awards and certificates that our Gerovital own brand products have gained. We were recently awarded the prize for the 'Product of the Year' for our Gerovital H3 Evolution line, which is fast making waves in the cosmetics industry.”

Perfecting premium skincare

Gerovital H3 Derma + Premium Care is a high-end range that represents Farmec's launch into premium skin care. Mr Turdean noted, “We are constantly developing new products. At the end of 2017 we will be adding more Gerovital premium products in response to customer demand and this has been specifically developed for external markets.”

As the market leader in skincare in Romania, Farmec's Gerovital range is also popular across Europe and beyond. The company exports its products to countries including Hungary, Greece, Spain, France and the UK, with increasing exports worldwide to the Middle East, the UAE, North America and South East Asia. Mr Turdean added, “We have been steadily and strategically entering new markets, with 2017 seeing Gerovital reach Israel, the Republic of Ireland and Thailand. We are also continuously working on developing beneficial partnerships in other countries in order to further expand our presence.”

Reputation for excellence

This new market growth is a result of Farmec's focus on offering tailored solutions to meet its customers' needs. Mr Turdean explained, “Our products are well known for their efficacy and reliability, so we are keen to work with our strong reputation to develop and deliver products that utilise the advanced technologies in which we've invested. We will pay great attention to the environment and the impact of our activity on the environment in all of our future developments of course, as we appreciate this goes hand-in-hand with product development from a responsible manufacturer.”

Primarily serving the cosmetics and household products sector means that Farmec is well known across households in Europe and especially its domestic Romanian market. Mr Turdean said, “According to AC Nielsen Romania we are the market leader in cosmetics, face care and hair treatment in Romania. We are also number one in descalers and kitchen household products. We are always working hard to ensure that we maintain and enhance this market-leading position and, thanks to regular investment and an excellent team, we are set to achieve this.”

Always investing

Farmec's ongoing investment programme has had a number of visible results. The company already has three separate production facilities, each focusing on a different product area (cosmetics, aerosol and household products), with a number of ongoing expansions. Mr Turdean explained, “We are currently expanding our household production capacity and we have also invested in new packaging technology for our facility. This will add shrink-sleeve capability to our packaging. We also plan to extend our production capacity for our cosmetics line soon.”

In addition to investment and geographical expansion, the awardwinning Farmec Gerovital range is enjoying expansion through its large network of branded stores across Romania. Mr Turdean commented, “Recently we have concentrated on developing our brand store network. We already have 19 stores across the most important cities in Romania and we plan to increase this number in the near future. We will also continue to invest in the technology, modernisation and extension of product lines in our existing facilities.”

Growing and learning

With such ambitious plans clearly well in process, it looks as though 2018 will be another strong year for Farmec and its Gerovital brand. Mr Turdean concluded, “We are certainly concentrating on organic expansion through developing innovative and appealing new products across our skincare and household ranges. We are also entering new markets and are very excited to be developing new distribution chains that include pharmacies and spa and wellness centres. We also expect to see further strong growth through e-commerce with our dedicated online shop at www.farmec.ro.” n