Preparing for International Expansion Curaloe®

Building on a strong island legacy, the Curaloe plantation is distinctive in that it operates in the challenging agricultural sector of Curaçao. Despite the harshness of the Curaçaoan environment, Curaloe is on a growth trajectory to become one of the global leaders in the field of health and beauty products.

TEXT KATY BRANUM

A Soldier’s Saviour
Curaloe is a small plantation that began in 1997. They cultivate one of the island’s treasures, the Aloe Vera plant, which is found growing wild all over the island. Aloe Vera’s health and regenerative powers have been well known and documented from early times. Alexander the Great always had it with him, as it aided his large armies in many ways, such as for healing wounds, as a remedy for treating intestinal problems from eating a constant diet of salted food, and as a substitute for vitamins from lack of fruit and vegetables. Since it can survive out of the soil for over twelve months, it was transported with the army as whole plants. As the army made its way across the many continents it conquered, the soldiers planted Aloe Vera wherever they camped. Thus the plant spread from its origins, through the Mediterranean to Southern Europe, into India, and across to Asia. The arrival of the Aloe Vera plant to this part of the world, including Curaçao, dates back to Christopher Columbus’s exploration of the area. The Spanish explorers had it aboard their ships for the same reasons that Alexander the Great had used it in the past. The plant prefers a lot of sun and a little water, so it found a natural home in the Curaçaoan climate.

Skincare Essential
Today Aloe Vera is used in many products; however its dominant use is in the skincare industry, as it has over 75 unique bio active ingredients that are very important in skin cell production and rejuvenation. The common way to produce Aloe Vera for these purposes is to extract the aloe gel, heat it up to evaporate the water and create a powder where additives are mixed in, and then export it to skincare manufacturers. These manufacturers then make skincare products containing aloe powder that is rehydrated. From the start, the Curaloe plantation produced the aloe as a liquid ingredient, as it believes in the symphony of all the ingredients in their natural composition, and then sold it to a manufacturer in Holland. The plantation cultivated about 100,000 plants; however this was relatively small compared to the much larger Aloe Vera powder producing plantations in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Thus Curaloe didn’t have the economies of scale to compete against the other larger suppliers, despite the quality of their product.

New Path
Around 2006, the Curaloe plantation started receiving visitors who began showing interest in the plantation as a tourist stop and thus, Curaloe decided to create a range of skincare products using their special aloe liquid. This was how the first Curaloe skincare range was born. Before long, the plantation started receiving feedback from the visitors who reported incredible results and were asking for more, so Curaloe launched a webshop to ship the products to all corners of the world. Since demand was increasing, Curaloe decided to work on further product development, packaging, and improving the attractiveness of the product range. With the strength of the Curaloe products becoming obvious, this naturally became the dominant focus for the plantation, and exporting the liquid to manufacturers halted.

In August 2014, Curaloe developed the facial and bodyline product collection. Working with experienced formulators, they improved the quality of the range and ensured that all products met the required industry standard protocols. New packaging was also designed and created in preparation to launch the product line into new international markets. Since introduction, the new branding has already made a significant positive impact on the business. The team is currently working the various approvals for organisations that regulate the skincare industry, such as FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US. This process absorbs a lot of time, money, and resources.

Budget for sales and marketing activities to build the brand internationally shall come from profits going forward. The approach the management has chosen is to geographically segment the market, so that profits that are generated in each country will then be used for further promotional initiatives in that jurisdiction.

David versus Goliath
In some markets, creative distribution strategies had to be found because of the enormous power of the distribution network. Remco Ernandes, the Commercial Representative for Curaloe explains, “In initial discussions with the key distributors in Europe regarding the new look of the product line, the feedback we received was that, although the Curaloe product range was nice and had a good story to it, it was not an easy story to tell to shoppers; it would cost the distributors a lot of money to educate the market. To clarify, although it is straightforward for the Curaloe team to tell the Curaloe story to the distributor, and the distributor can easily explain the Curaloe story to the salon owner, it is a complex story for the salon or store owner to communicate to their clients, especially in a situation where the client self-selects the product from a shelf which has other similar products.”

Fresh Thinking
Curaloe decided to develop an alternative distribution strategy to access the store and salons in these markets. The chosen approach will not only save Curaloe valuable middleman fees, it also provided direct access to spa owners and other valuable contacts. Curaloe will create an online B2B web platform, so that stores and salons can order directly; the orders will be shipped from the warehouses in the relevant geographical area. This created the possibility for smaller professional stores to buy directly from the plantation. Remco also shared that he is training people to become Curaloe ambassadors. The ambassadors will visit the salons once a month to see how the product range is performing, check on the product placement and pricing, and gather feedback from the salon team. They will also identify training needs and promotion opportunities to optimise the success of the Curaloe range. In the short term, Curaloe is focusing on selling only to beauty professionals such as spas and salons, beauty therapists, dermatologists, and professional skincare advisors. Some specialists are already using Curaloe in their treatments and are providing valuable feedback to the Curaloe team. The plan is to also use this feedback in future marketing activities, such as testimonials, to continue building credibility and awareness for the Curaloe brand. Curaloe is also approaching famous people that come on holiday to Curaçao, providing them with gift packages to nurture the possibility for future commercial endorsements, which will also greatly assist in product awareness.

Forecasting and Logistics
Curaloe’s story and its “point of difference” is their ability to use high quantities of fresh aloe liquid in their products. They can do this because the skincare range is made directly on the plantation, so they don’t have the cost of transporting the liquid that other manufacturers would incur. However, there are also challenges. Since Curaloe has high percentages of pure Aloe Vera in its products, it is more difficult to keep the products “stable” so that they retain their vital properties throughout the period of transport, storage, and use.

Logistics is also a challenge. Transporting a container from Curaçao to the Netherlands takes a lot longer than claimed. It is reported that it only takes a month, but in practical terms it takes two and a half to three months. That is challenging for Curaloe as it negatively impacts their ability to react to demand and forces them to forecast sales a long time in advance. Remco explains, “We have just started to export, so we don’t know yet if sales will happen quickly or if it will be a bit slower. This three month delay is very challenging and costly from a business perspective.”

Current Activities
The Curaçao Ministry of Economic Affairs is assisting Curaloe with exporting to the USA, and with exporting duty free to Europe and the USA. The local government also includes Curaloe in trade missions to other countries. The Curaçao Chamber of Commerce facilitates introductions to the international community and supports the company with identifying networking channels within target countries.

Currently, the plan is to leverage the name “Curaçao” in markets where the name has recognition, such as the Netherlands. In other markets, the messaging will be much more around the pure Aloe liquid that is featured in the products. Management is also considering a private label service, leveraging capacity from their sister plantation in South Africa. This allows larger companies that want to make the similar products under their own brand name to use the pure aloe liquid produced by the two plantations.

Curaloe is another great example of a local business that has tapped into Curaçao´s strong agricultural history to successfully build a sustainable global business. And Curaloe has the potential to help Curaçao become a health and beauty travel destination of the future.

For more information on the Curaloe go to
www.ecocityprojects.com.