Kopaş Cosmetics

We conducted an interview with Onur Özyurt, General Manager of Kopaş Cosmetics, and discussed the company's development process, areas of activity and the remarkable success of Dalin.

Can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?

I am the General Manager of Kopaş Cosmetics. I graduated from Boğaziçi University's Department of Business Administration. After completing my postgraduate studies in Finance at the same university, I started Harvard Business School's GMP Business Administration program. In 2013, I joined Kopaş Cosmetics as a member of the Board of Directors and since 2014, I have been working there as General Manager. Before joining Kopaş Cosmetics, I took part in various projects in private enterprise capital and investment banking industries in Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East and worked in various positions as a board member in entertainment, retail and pharmaceutical industries for 13 years.

Can you share Kopaş Cosmetics' success story since its establishment until today with our readers?

In 1974, pharmacist Adil Karaağaç founded Kopaş Cosmetics, which is now one of the leading local companies in the cosmetics and care products industry with 44 years of experience. Kopaş Cosmetics operates 10 active brands in baby care, personal care and household care categories. Kopaş Cosmetics is the number one company in Turkey in baby care and wax products. We continue our activities with 500 employees in our 24,000 m2 facility. We have sustained steady growth since our establishment. Looking at Kopaş Cosmetics' milestones: we introduced the Dalin brand to consumers in 1983, we entered the professional hair care products category in 1994, we undertook the distributorship of Voila brand in 1995, and we entered the colour cosmetics category with Alix Avien brand in 1997. In the 2000s, we entered a new growth period: we began active operations in Romania in 2001, we acquired Sesu brand in 2004, we launched our perfume and deodorant brand XO in 2005, and we began distributing Dr. Beckmann products in Turkey and Romania in 2008. As for the 2010s: we launched Alix Natura hair dye in 2012, we relaunched Dalin and Sesu brands in 2015, we assumed the Turkey distributorship of Humana baby formula and tea products in 2016 and Spanish hair care brand Montibello in 2017. In 2018, we introduced Japan's leading baby diaper brand to Turkish consumers.

What are your products and in which sectors are you active?

Kopaş Cosmetics has a wide product range and offers products for consumers of all ages and backgrounds. The Dalin brand has been the number one choice for mothers and children for years. Sesu, our wax and depilatory products brand, is Turkey's best-selling wax brand. XO, Alix Natura and Foot Doctor brands are also among the products widely appreciated and preferred by consumers.

Can you tell us about Dalin's secret for successfully maintaining its shelf presence since 1983?

In addition to a wide product range, Dalin offers consumers a sense of trust. We offer mothers a wide range of products including hair care, skin care, laundry care and baby wipes products, all designed for babies under the Dalin brand. While baby shampoo is Dalin's most well-known product, we also offer various products including hair and body shampoo and easy-comb spray in a microphone-shaped toy bottle in the hair care category; baby oil, nappy rash cream, baby soap and foam soap, baby cologne, powder and Vaseline in the skin care category; liquid laundry detergent, granule soap and baby laundry softener in the laundry care category; baby wipes, nappy changing mat and pocket wipes in the paper care products category.

While manufacturing our products, we closely follow new technologies in both equipment and raw materials.

Can you tell us about the "Fun with Dalin" project? What is the goal and what do you think about the feedback?

As Dalin, we have been organising this event every month free of charge since 2017 in cooperation with PACE Çocuk Sanat Merkezi (Children's Art Center). Through this event, we support children in transforming their dreams into art. Within the framework of the event, children can demonstrate their skills while having fun with special materials and crayons. Last year, the "Fun with Dalin" Workshop received the FELİS Award. Each month, we help children transform their dreams into different forms of art with experienced instructors and varied activities.

Your "Mothers are Confiding in Dalin" project was widely appreciated by mothers. Can you tell us about this project, which supports mothers in baby care?

As Dalin, we asked mothers—who strive to achieve the best in caring for their children—about the questions they most frequently ask, and we created a series of short videos featuring real mothers' experiences. We listen to questions from mothers who have faced certain challenges after pregnancy and share messages from other mothers who have had similar experiences. Our "Mothers are Confiding in Dalin" short film series has more than ten episodes. In these episodes, we share real mothers' experiences and cherished memories from hand washing to bathing with other mothers. Our primary aim is to help mothers let go of the idea of being the "perfect" mother and remember that simply being a mother is perfect enough.  

What are your domestic and international sales activities? To which parts of Turkey and the world do you sell your products? Which factors do you consider when selecting these areas?

In Turkey, which is our main market, we consistently record 25–30% growth each year. Over the last three years, we have doubled our turnover. We are targeting to close this year with TRY 400 million. We compete against world brands in Turkey, but despite this, we are the market leader. We export to almost 30 countries including the USA, England and Germany. We employ 35 people in our partnership in Romania, which was established in 2001. Through this partnership, we can offer our complete product range to Romanian consumers. To strengthen our export, we listed our Dalin branded products with leading retail chains in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia in 2018. In September, we will reach consumers through television advertisements in Serbia and Romania. We are aiming to begin operations in Albania, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the fourth quarter of 2018. We are working on licensed production opportunities with local business partners in North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. When entering these markets, we are certainly considering market dynamics, consumer expectations and competition.

Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technologies you use in your products? What benefits have these technologies offered your brand and products?

While manufacturing our products, we closely follow new technologies in both equipment and raw materials. We consider every process that will simplify and accelerate production. Additionally, we have been working on eco-labelling for the past few years. This way, we conduct lifecycle assessments on our products to identify what improvements we can make in production and formulas and adapt ourselves to benefit the environment from new technological developments.

Can you tell us about the social responsibility projects you organise to benefit the future?

As Dalin, we launched a new project in cooperation with AÇEV (Mother Child Education Foundation) to ensure that every child in their early years is safe, healthy, happy and learning. We accepted the role of mothers' trusted helper and started our tale books project with the entertaining Dalin character to teach children between 4 and 7 years old about self-care. The first book in the series aims to help children adopt hand washing as a habit. Within the framework of our project, we aim to reach schools and more than 20,000 children in Turkey to support their development. We are supporting this project with Dalin Foam Soap, which makes hand washing practical and fun with its foam formulation and which has received positive feedback from mothers.