Barcelona, June 28. The Beauty Cluster, in collaboration with Acció, has organized the first virtual mission of the beauty sector to Central Asia. The objective of the initiative has been to get distributors to the participating companies for the markets of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Twelve companies associated with the Beauty Cluster that sought to market their cosmetics, perfumery and personal care products in the region participated in the mission: Ainea Perfums, Alqvimia, Arôms Nature, Laboratorios Babe, Beter, Dermclar, Laboratorios de Barrios, Martiderm, Mesoestetic Pharma Group, Pharmex Care, Valy Cosmetics and Laboratorios Ximart.
The Beauty Cluster has been a pioneer in the sector in launching the online trade mission format. The mission was already announced at the end of 2020 and the agendas began to be drawn up in February 2021. The initiative has been 100% subsidized by the Beauty Cluster itself. The agendas have been prepared by experts from Acció’s commercial office in Moscow. Virtual meetings with distributors and customers have been held during the months of May and June. In total, more than 100 online business meetings have been scheduled for participating companies. Likewise, to attract distributors, a complete catalog of each participating company was prepared in Russian.
Interest in both markets is high for the Spanish cosmetics, perfumery and personal care industry. Both markets represent a high potential for companies: Kazakhstan, with almost 19 million inhabitants, is the main economy in Central Asia due to its social and economic development, which are largely due to good government management and its natural wealth. According to the World Bank, it is ranked 28th out of 190 countries in the Doing Business ranking in 2018, and the first among the economies of Central Asia and the former former Soviet republics. On the other hand, Uzbekistan has more than 32 million inhabitants and is positioned as the market with the greatest prospects in the entire region. The unblocking of the payment of international transfers in foreign currency to which companies were subjected, as well as the reduction or withdrawal of numerous import taxes, have caused an unprecedented economic boom in the country. There are many foreign companies that are currently positioning themselves in the market, in different sectors such as energy, infrastructure, real estate or tourism.
The development of a purely virtual mission has also served to explore the interest and usefulness that this type of action may have as a complementary part of the 360º internationalization strategy of companies in the sector.
