Ushopal takes airline route into global travel retail via Payot

Expanding China-based beauty group Ushopal plans to make a strategic entry into the global travel retail (GTR) channel via the airline market by securing Payot – a French skincare house acquired in April 2025 – as the first-class amenity beauty brand on Singapore Airlines.

Expanding China-based beauty group Ushopal plans to make a strategic entry into the global travel retail (GTR) channel via the airline market by securing Payot – a French skincare house acquired in April 2025 – as the first-class amenity beauty brand on Singapore Airlines.

At the TFWA show in Cannes, Founder Lu Guo told TRBusiness: “We’re also pitching to Ethiopian Airlines and Middle East airlines. Essentially, we’re trying to get Payot, and our other brands, Argentum, and Bonpoint, in the hands of global travelling consumers first so they can experience it.”

This could be a clever move as Ethiopian Airlines has global hubbing ambitions and caters to some high-spending consumers while Middle East travellers, despite recent geopolitical events, remain powerful spenders when they fly to and from Europe. Oliver Wyman analysis puts the Middle East far ahead of other regions in terms of sales per traveller in 2025 at $15.46, the only one to break $10.

A GTR push is coming

Guo added: “In China, we are moving away from wholesale and looking at places like Sanya, rather than Beijing or Shanghai. Ushopal has been a long-time supply partner with CDFG and smaller Chinese travel retailers, but we are now investigating dedicated airport storefronts for our brands.” The CEO also expects to be in CDFG’s new downtown duty-free stores before long.

Since its founding in 2017, Ushopal has been a very China-centric distribution business. However, in recent years, Guo has added more brands to the portfolio, which also includes a 91% stake in Argentum, a global license for Bonpoint’s skincare and fragrance (since December 2025), and a longstanding investment in Juliette Has a Gun.

With the group’s brands and activities currently representing close to €200m in retail value, Ushopal is now going global. “We never built Ushopal around the idea that China should represent 80% of our business. On the contrary, our objective is to become a truly worldwide group, with approximately 60-65% of our business ultimately generated outside China,” said Guo.