Lubomira, L’Oréal was founded in 1909 and over a century later you’re still one of the leading cosmetic brands. What’s your secret to stay relevant?
There is a saying in L’Oréal coined by our founder Eugène Schueller “always seize what is starting”. L’Oréal has a deeply ingrained passion for its consumers, solving problems for them, a passion for innovation and embracing new trends and remarkable capacity to change, adapt to the world it is operating in. This cultural “fitness for change” explains why we were very successful at digital transformation that I had the privilege to lead for the past 7 years. 

You said recently that ecommerce is L’Oreal biggest market. How did the pandemic accelerate your ecommerce business?
Ecommerce has been a priority for us since 7 years when I joined the Group. In 2014 we believed that we would reach 20% of our total sales in Ecommerce by 2020 and we achieved… almost 27%. The pandemic has obviously been a great accelerator of this performance as stores were closed and literally everyone moved online for shopping. We saw high double digit or even triple digit growth across all our brands and geographies, we doubled our weight of business in Ecommerce in 8 weeks at the peak of the crisis. Most interestingly, the growth is not going away even after stores reopened as consumers got used to the convenience, ease and service of Ecommerce. 

What is your long-term goal? How much of your sales do you hope to be done online?
We don’t think in goals, we think in probabilities. We believe it is very probable that half of our total sales will be done online in the coming years. So we are getting ready for it as of today. Lots of things need to be anticipated from resources shifts from brick and mortar to digital, to upskilling and reskilling of our commercial forces, complete adaptation of our supply chain capabilities, real time data driven assortment and merchandising on the big Ecommerce platforms. The pandemic taught us one thing: data and real time agility are the key to this new world where you can see sales up by 500% in just one day because an influencer mentioned your product on TikTok. 

L’Oréal recently introduced its first line of virtual makeup for social media. What's the idea behind this innovation?
We believe in the power of augmented reality for beauty. Consumers love to play with beauty filters, discover new looks, try new shades before buying. It is particularly powerful in a Covid-19 world where instore testers are no longer available and where people spend their time interacting online, on Zoom or Teams. In 2018 We have invested into buying the leader in augmented reality in beauty Modiface based in Toronto Canada and we are since obsessed about designing new experiences using augmented reality.
We launched Virtual make up try-ons or hair color try-ons before you buy that are now live on all our make up or hair color brands websites and also live on Amazon.com, on Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, YouTube, Alibaba or WeChat that help our consumers to find the perfect shade of lipstick or eye shadow.
We also launched digital beauty teleconsultations and virtual make up lines. What we see is that people use make up and virtual make up for many reasons: to look their best, to stand out, to express their inner sense of identity, to leave a mark and to feel empowered to make a difference. 

What are the top digital trends for 2021? 
There will be a big battle for Ecommerce and for consumers attention. The boundaries between advertising platforms and Ecommerce platforms are blurring as Amazon is becoming an advertising giant, as TikTok will be fighting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to win the Ecommerce market. It will create many new opportunities for us to advertise and sell our brands by reaching all generations of consumers.
Another almost opposite movement is people and consumers retreating from the big platforms, joining Telegram, ClubHouse or Substack which maybe is a sign of us entering in the post advertising era where reliable content, privacy and subscription models will be the new business models. 

You were named WFA Global Marketer of the Year 2019. How do you see the future of global e-commerce? Could Chinese model of e-commerce go global? Is “social commerce” the next big thing for brands?
There is more to Ecommerce than what people think. To start with, there are many form of Ecommerce. At L’Oréal we are doing Ecommerce with digital pure players such as Amazon or Alibaba, but also playing with brick and mortar partners moving online through click and collect, we are investing in last mile delivery, we are scaling Direct to consumer Ecommerce when our brands sell directly to their consumers.
We are also learning about social commerce with things like Instagram checkout, with shoppable livestreaming sessions reinventing interactive teleshopping. We are experimenting with Group shopping when beauty experts start running their business and selling our brands through whatsapp or Facebook Groups or WeChat in China. We are also working on subscription based models in very loyalizing categories such as skin care or hair color.
So the future of Ecommerce is multi-faceted and the key for big global brands like ours is to learn to operate on all of them.
And yes, you are right China is a constant source of inspiration for us. I believe that China is the most innovative digital ecosystem in the world! 

You are born in Bulgaria. How being an immigrant has defined your journey?
I am born in Bulgaria and I am very very proud of my origins. I followed my mother who was a biology teacher to live in Morocco, learnt Spanish and French in the process and then lived in France, the USA, Belgium.
What being an immigrant taught me is to always start from a position of respect for the cultures and the people. It taught me to always take the time to observe and understand the cultural codes, the way things are done where I am and only then bring my voice, my perspective, my difference.
Picasso, before becoming the father of cubism was exceptional at figure drawing and classical oil painting. 

What were the most important life lessons you learned throughout this journey?
That everybody is fighting a battle you know nothing about, so be kind - always. 

Do you have the chance to visit Bulgaria? How the country looks like trough your eyes? 
I come to Bulgaria 5 times a year. My kids spend almost all their holidays with my mum in Sofia, Borovetz in the winter and Primorsko in the summer. I still see my country through the eyes of the child I was when I left, and can still smell the odour of the peaches, the strawberries in the garden and the taste of the home made bread. I see the magnificent beauty and diversity of Bulgaria landscapes, I see the resilience and the sense of humour of our people which so many times is the cure in all difficult situations. I see and sometime miss the sense of community and family that holds us together. And today I am impressed by how we are able to reconcile modernity and our heritage, innovation and tradition. And if I look especially at the tech scene I am really excited to see a dynamic startup scene with ambitious VCs (Venture Capitals) and promising success stories such as Gtmhub which made the news with its 30M€ series B. Not surprising because our people are very well trained and we have world class engineers and designers. And we have always been good at problem solving, I guess out of necessity.