GHD: The two British hairdressers with the hair plates promoted by a legion of 10,000 ‘influencers’ | Business | EUROtoday

None of these three British lougers of Leeds (United Kingdom) might think about that their small enterprise, which began with 15,000 kilos, would find yourself main the marketplace for skilled hair plates in Europe. In 2001, Martin Penny, Gary Douglas and Robert Powls acquired the manufacturing and distribution rights of a plate developed in South Korea and commenced to promote it in British magnificence salons. Thus GHD is born (good hair dayin English), whose acronym inspired a great hair daily.

Until that point there was nothing related available in the market: that machine had an modern design with easy ceramic plates and edges that allowed easy, undulating and curling the hair, multi function. The styler (Multifunction) shined with a single move, didn’t harm the hair with the warmth and allowed a quicker and sturdy coiffure. “GHD was initially launched exclusively for professional stylists and was sold only in hairdressers,” says Jeroen Temmerman, CEO of the model since 2018.

But their gross sales grew greater than anticipated and shortly turned an object of cult for shoppers, who might get hairdressing hairstyles with out leaving dwelling. The plates had been all over the place. They appeared in style magazines and used celebrities equivalent to Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham, Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna. “A year after its launch, the demand for consumers was so large that it was launched to the Internet in 2002, with a direct sales website to the consumer. Later, in 2006, the brand expanded to luxury stores and can now be found in El Corte Inglés, Harrods and Selfridges,” explains Temmerman. These excessive -end skilled plates, whose costs are about 140 euros, are additionally marketed in hairdressing, Sephora, Amazon and different approved distributors.

Social networks are a necessary leg of their advertising and marketing technique. It has a community of greater than 10,000 influencers They create content material to draw shoppers. “We have the recommendation rate in our highest hair plates on the market, greater than 80%. This is 20 more points with respect to the next competitor, according to the Brand Health Tracker study,” says Olivia Manjón, basic director of GHD for Spain and Portugal, with greater than 20 years of expertise within the magnificence sector that landed within the model in September 2024.

GHD, primarily based in London and round 850 staff, is a part of Wella Company, a worldwide group specialised in hair care. It was acquired by the American beauty big Coty in 2016 for roughly 420 million kilos as a part of its growth technique. In 2020, Coty offered a majority participation in Wella Company (which incorporates manufacturers equivalent to GHD, Clairol, Wella Professionals and OPI) to the KKR threat capital agency. Since then, Kkr turned the bulk shareholder and essential supervisor of Wella Company, whereas Coty retained a minority participation, which has been progressively lowering. This has allowed GHD to achieve dimension and increase.

With a turnover of 380 million {dollars} in 2023 (338 million euros), the model sells greater than three million instruments per yr and 6 each minute within the 30 international locations by which it operates, together with England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, China, Australia and the United States. The world growth will proceed to be a strategic focus. “We have clear priorities to grow the business, including expansion in key markets such as Asia and the United States, and continuous investment in innovation,” says Temmerman.

Expansion

His first market is the British, though the Spanish “has been one of the most dynamic in Europe in recent years and, in fact, GHD is the number one brand in Spain,” says Manjón. “This makes the Iberian market attractive to us,” provides the directive. In Spain (GHD Iberia headquarters is in Malaga), sells three merchandise each 5 minutes. The firm billed 35 million euros and its advantages had been 1.3 million in fiscal yr 2024, in accordance with registration knowledge. In the nation provides 102 staff (104 including Portugal).

The plates are, and can proceed to be, one of many enterprise pillars, by which it competes with manufacturers equivalent to Dyson or Cloud Nine, created by one among GHD’s co -founders. “They are the legacy of the brand and are part of their DNA, so we will continue to invest and innovate in this category, in which we are growing faster than our competitors in Europe,” says the CEO. But on this quarter of a century, the agency has opened to different classes with the launch of 18 skilled coiffure instruments: along with seven stylersit has two gadgets (wet-to-dry) To comb the moist to dry, two scorching brushes, 4 curizers and three dryers, along with brushes and merchandise with thermal safety.

Innovation is a strategic precedence for the corporate, which is outlined as a model of technological magnificence. Invest between 2% and three% of its advantages on this space. “The budget investment in R&D has almost doubled in the last four years,” says the supervisor. The instruments are developed by greater than 100 scientists and engineers in a laboratory in Cambridge, the place all merchandise are subjected to sturdiness and longevity exams equivalent to, for instance, heating and cooling cycles that final greater than two weeks, simulating two years of use. The stylers 35,000 occasions are dropped from a peak of fifty millimeters to guage their response to repeated falls. The hinges are evaluated by opening them and repeatedly closing them 110,000 occasions, which reproduces two years of typical use by the patron.

Much has rained from the styler unique to the final releases (the Chronos and Chronos Max fashions). “Engineers have created intelligent algorithms that identify how these plates are constantly adapted to ensure that the temperature is maintained at 185 degrees, which is the optimal temperature for combing hair without damaging it with extreme heat,” says Manjón. The really useful gross sales value of this mannequin is 369 euros.

In addition, the model has 254 patents granted and 114 in course of. “The patents are essential, since they provide us with a unique competitive advantage derived from our research and development in our laboratories,” says Temmerman. The supervisor says he has a strong portfolio of improvements to proceed selling enterprise progress, together with synthetic intelligence. “The beauty technology sector is prepared for substantial growth, driven by the growing connectivity between tools and final consumers,” says Temmerman. GHD plans to launch a instrument with AI this summer season.

This is what’s about to succeed in a sector, that of the hair plates, which in 2023 billed 734 million {dollars} on the planet and can attain 1,122 million in 2031, in accordance with the forecasts of Data Bridge Market Research.