Sea, spa and skincare

PASSING THROUGH: Robert Seidl

On his first visit to India, Robert Seidl didn't do the tourist thing, and that's thanks to his team which made sure he didn't stray from the straight and narrow of his business commitments.

With new product launches at its flagship stores in Mumbai and Delhi, partner meetings with the Sports Station team (think Ferragamo or Nike), and hurried press tete-a-tetes, the most Seidl probably relaxed was over lunch at Olive in Delhi, or at least sufficiently enough to share what many might consider his forward plans.

Seidl is CEO of the "over" "" his emphasis "" $100 million American, niche skincare products company H2O, which has been in India for around a year, at a time when international competitors Estee Lauder and L'Oreal and Clarins are keen to occupy shelf space in premium stores.

Compared to them, H2O is a midget; no wonder it wants a foothold before the giants make it impossible for smaller players to find a way into shopping baskets.

"I was in Shanghai earlier," says Seidl, "and it was a shock." A very nice, a very pleasant, even a very astounding shock, for the record. "Our China experience shows it's better to be in the forefront of the market, rather than getting in midstream."

After China, India is a shock too "" but a very different one; still, it's the "opportunities" that have the likes of Seidl & Co fussing over strategies and potential... oh, and profits too.

"The marketplace isn't crowded yet," he says, and with its young workforce and growing retail space in malls, H2O hopes to be "in 25-30 retail outlets in the next five years".

Seidl is 50 "" and vain. "I look younger," he says. That comes with the territory. He's been part of the beauty and skincare business for all his working life, most of which has been in Chicago.

He spent 16 years with Helene Curtis Industries before he made president of skincare company Decleor, eventually accepting a position with Shiseido Cosmetics (also recently launched in India), for which he shifted briefly to Connecticut. He returned to Chicago and a position at H2O to "work within a smaller, entrepreneurial environment".

H20 founder Cindy Melk launched her company in 1989, its products based on water (as opposed to alcohol) and sea-derived ingredients. "My management style is hands-on," smiles Seidl, "and here was an opportunity to make a small business global in nature."

Among his successes, he says, has been a marketing alliance to promote H2O at Disney outlets, an arrangement to service passengers on United Airlines, and tie-ins with retailers across North America.

He's also scored strategic partnerships in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, and has 150 distribution points in China. "We have a nice business in Thailand, have just entered Indonesia, and are engaged in discussions in Malaysia." Asia accounts for a shade under a third of its worldwide business.

A recent convert to spa treatments "" "Five years ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd enjoy being in spas" "" he says the US is a huge spa market (11,000 of 15,000 spas around the world are in America).

And that "it will be a natural progression to move into that segment. We already have the formulations, and the space is not dominated by any single company..."

Besides, it could be another opportunity to bring the H2O brand to Asia.