Active in 60 markets. Over 3 million Brand Partners. Appearing in the top 15 companies of our Global 100 for the last 10 years. Oriflame is a leader with eyes on a beautiful, sustainable future.
Over 50 years ago brothers Jonas and Robert af Jochnick and friend Bengt Hellsten launched Oriflame, a cosmetics company that would introduce the world to their Swedish view of beauty— one inspired by nature, simplicity and balance. Their family-owned business would eventually become one of the most well-known beauty brands in the world, as their dedicated field of Brand Partners work with the same passion to share this new definition of beautiful.
“Because we’re from Sweden, we have a different view on beauty,” explains CEO and President Magnus Brännström. “It’s a way of life: to be healthy, enjoy beautiful skin, express yourself and have fun. It’s about being confident in who you are and finding balance in life. A balance that comes from the inside and out—that puts you in control no matter what life throws at you—that lets you grow and thrive.”
Jonas and Robert’s original dream has maintained a relevancy that few beauty brands can claim. From the beginning, Oriflame has focused on the intersection of nature and science, developing beauty and wellness products inspired by native Swedish plants and herbs studied and stewarded by the company’s scientists and physicians. Today, Oriflame’s collection of products includes skin care, cosmetics, fragrance, personal and hair care, accessories and wellness—every item an integral component of the company’s takes on holistic beauty.
“Because we’re from Sweden, we have a different view on beauty.
—Magnus Brännström, CEO & President, Oriflame
“Holistic beauty starts from the inside,” says Brännström. “Together with doctors and scientists, we developed a nutritional program for daily usage called Wellness by Oriflame. It consists of the important vitamins and minerals you need every day, but also includes protein to manage your weight and balance the diet. Wellness by Oriflame is a certain lifestyle when you gradually change your habits towards a healthy and thus more happy and beautiful life.”
Social Selling—A Natural Fit
As retail fades and social selling takes even more ground in the beauty space, Brännström views Oriflame’s opportunity as a golden one.
“The whole vision going forward is that retail with the regular physical stores will cease to exist. We see it happening already now,” he says. “One of the challenges in this new world is that the consumer can now choose from 50,000 different alternatives online. We are a company helping consumers make the right choice through our Brand Partners, who have knowledge not only about the product but also about what our consumers want. I believe that the social selling of tomorrow will mostly be the exchange of views and recommendations between friends, and it will be primarily done virtually.”
“We have chosen to focus on our people’s wellbeing and on our culture during the quarantine, and the trust we built is incredible.”
—Elena Aylott, Vice President Global Employee Experience, Oriflame
Across 60 countries, Oriflame’s three million Brand Partners couldn’t agree more. Oriflame’s business opportunity invites Brand Partners to experience the Swedish ideals the af Jochnick Brothers built their business around. Individuals can join the company as either Brand Partners focused on building businesses and sharing products or as VIP Customers with easy access to new products and discounts.
“We’ve had a natural ethos from the beginning,” says Michael Cervell, Senior Vice President Group Strategy and Business Development. “But even more than that, we offer a culture that believes everything is possible. Our mission is to fulfill dreams—big words, but we want to give people all around the world, who buy into our values, an opportunity to learn, grow and earn. Creating a better life for themselves and their families by living and promoting our product solutions and business.”
The Oriflame Way
Both Brand Partners and corporate team members refer to this better life as the “Oriflame Way”—the practices and behaviors that unite the company and drive its success.
“We Oriflamians are very curious by nature, and we are constantly trying new tools, technologies, and ideas,” says Elena Aylott, Vice President Global Employee Experience. “We even won the Best Learning Culture Award from LinkedIn last year. We are running global employee ideation events called Dragon’s Den, where our people pitch new ideas for the business. We are known for our great staff parties—we love having fun together!”
Togetherness is one of Oriflame’s core values, inspiring the company to prioritize consistent and transparent internal communication through channels like Teams and Yammer. This is has been especially helpful throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as teams could easily communicate in their new work environments.
“We could quickly re-adjust ourselves to working from home, as both digital culture and digital tools were in place. We have chosen to focus on our people’s wellbeing and on our culture during the quarantine, and the trust we built is incredible,” says Aylott.
Sustainability and Strategy
Oriflame’s connection to nature isn’t limited to its innovative product lines. Long before sustainability was a buzzword, the company was already putting initiatives in place to positively impact the environment that means so much to all Oriflamians. Since 2010, the company has made changes to its production and logistics in an effort to reduce its impact on climate, water and forest. Thus far, many of those goals have been achieved, including a 48 percent reduction in CO2 emissions, 100 percent green, renewable electricity at all operations, sustainable board packaging and catalog paper, 100 percent natural origin exfoliants (no plastic beads) and the addition of biodegradable skin care and personal care ranges. These successes are only some of the milestones achieved—many more are anticipated between now and 2025.
The social selling of tomorrow will mostly be the exchange of views and recommendations between friends, and it will be primarily done virtually.
—Magnus Brännström
Oriflame anticipates continued growth, as the company focuses on investing in the Brand Partners taking Beauty by Sweden to every corner of the globe.
“We have a Brand Partner-centered focus for our strategy,” says Cervell. “This means that we want to ensure they have unique products, leading digital tools, systems and training to truly add value to our customers. We see great growth opportunities within the many markets we are already in, but we may also enter new markets, though not at the speed we did in the last 20 years.”
New products are on the horizon as well, says Brännström. “We have accumulated lots of knowledge in the area of skin care, we are doing research and testing in our laboratories, and we are very careful to choose the right ingredients that work. We are also investing in education for our Brand Partners—they add profound value by understanding the ingredients, the way the products work and recommending the right product for certain needs.
As we have a holistic approach to beauty, we don’t really go for miracle cures. We believe in every day, in taking care of yourself step by step, all the time.”
