Natura invests in operations technology to enhance innovation process

The investment will see Natura take delivery of a software solution specifically designed for new product development and portfolio management, an area that that the company has focused on as the main driving force of significant growth in recent years.

“Natura chose GenSight because of its advanced product portfolio management functionality, ease of configurability and ease of integration into the company’s existing business processes,”​ said Luciana Hashiba, innovation and network manager at Natura.

As a result of its focus on innovation Natura has developed into the leading cosmetics and personal care player in the domestic market of Brazil, a factor that is built around the fact that it currently has more than 1,200 SKUs in its product portfolio.

Ambitious product innovation roll out​

On top of this, the company also has an ambitious plan to launch a further 160 new products each year, together with a goal to achieve the majority of gross income from new products launched during the course of the last two years.

Earlier this year, Euromonitor International released a market report underlining the fact that one of the key drivers to growth in the Brazil market for cosmetics and personal care continues to be product innovation.

Euromonitor estimates that the market continued to grow at double digit percentage figures in 2010 to reach an estimated value of $37.4bn, a figure that was also driven by increased consumer spending power and wider product distribution.

Software designed for easy integration​

“Natura chose GenSight because of its advanced product portfolio management functionality, ease of configurability and ease of integration into the company’s existing business processes,” said Luciana Hashiba, innovation and network manager at Natura.

Natura will adopt GenSight v8.0, the latest version of the product portfolio management software, which aims to help executives enhance their ability to analyze, view, select, track and communicate changes to the product portfolio.

Discussing the investment, Michael Menard, president and co-founder of GenSight, pointed to the fact that Natura has a very impressive innovation rate, underlining the fact that the new software would help to enhance the automation of this part of the business.