The world's top beauty brand and direct seller Mary Kay earlier this month unveiled its over 800 million yuan administrative Management Center in downtown Jing'an District in Shanghai to support its long-term growth and show its firm commitment to China.
The 13-floor building with office space of more than 14,000 square meters is also equipped with sports equipment and exercising facilities as well as low energy consumption design features.
Paul Mak, president of Mary Kay China, said the new administrative building would encourage communications and teamwork among its employees.
In recent years, China has surpassed the United States to become the biggest market for Mary Kay and Mary Kay China's business growth was close to 100 times in the past 16 years.
David Holl, president and chief executive officer of Mary Kay, said in an interview with Shanghai Daily that "Mary Kay is proud of the opportunities we provide to more than 1 million independent sales force members and their families in China."
Holl said he remains bullish on the outlook of the China market as he expects the company to continue to grow and maintain market share here and to represent an even bigger percentage in Mary Kay's global business.
"Our China team definitely exceeded what we thought they could do three to five years ago," he said, as the company is also expanding the manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Hangzhou.
"This new administrative building is designed to foster better communication and innovation in China and with the exponential growth here we're becoming more decentralized to allow the local executive teams to do a lot more," he said.
"We hope Mary Kay China would continue to be not only the leader in terms of business size but also innovative ideas."
Currently more than 70 percent of its sales volume in China are coming from third-tier cities and even lower-tier cities. The company is also aggressively keeping a strong foothold in first- and second-tier cities by continuing to innovate and improving the services and the values it offers for consumers.
Mary Kay China is also one of the earliest adopters of cutting edge technologies such as digital technology to empower its sales force to stay closer to consumers, according to Holl.
As early as 2003 it has launched an online shopping platform to provide a convenient shopping experience for its sales force as well as a one-stop platform to manage customer relationship for its sales force. In 2010 China also became the earliest local market to launch a mobile version of its online shopping site.
Since 2008, Mary Kay has also been aggressively expanding in lower-tier cities thanks to the development of their infrastructure.
Currently its business stretches throughout China, with branches in 35 cities and the only overseas production center in Hangzhou, the Manufacturing Facility for Asia-pacific Region.
"Mary Kay China's capabilities such as IT infrastructure and digital marketing are also expected to be brought back to its headquarters in the US. For example, about 50 Mary Kay China employees in the IT department are providing support for its Asia Pacific and global team," said Mak.
Mary Kay not only keeps enhancing the value of the business platform, but is also committed to helping women realize their dreams.
More than 1 million women in China have been benefitting from the opportunities that a Mary Kay business provides for them and their families.
"Women is the nature of business and our mission is to enrich women's lives," Holl said.
And as a responsible corporate citizen, Mary Kay is not merely selling merchandise to consumers but bringing a healthy and valuable lifestyle for consumers, he said.
"We want to always be the first one to react to natural disasters and show that we stand behind the values of Mary Kay, that is always to do the right thing," Holl concluded.
