During the past few years Alveola Kft. became a significant and steady participant of the Hungarian market of cosmetic and hair styling products. It provides a unique variety of products that are essential to open a salon, including cosmetics and make-up as well as electrocosmetic devices and salon furniture. Experts acknowledge not only its results on the market for professionals but also its results on the retail market of cosmetics and household appliances. The interview below was done with the founder of the company, Mr. Tamás Szóráth on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Alveola Kft.

15 years of hard work, great successes! If you would have to summarize the past few years, what company events would you mention?

Tough question, since every single event, even the smallest task and gained success contributed to reaching our present position. However, if I still had to mention one or two, I would probably say Dr. Spiller's products first, since they were the ones that got us started. The W/O emulsion, which was a revolutionary product back then – and still is – was a great success, as it is such a skin identical combination, which guarantees the users outstanding results even today. Secondly I would mention the introduction of the Xanitalia products, since with waxes and wax heaters we could reach out to numerous estheticians. The introduction of electrocosmetic devices and salon furniture to our brochure was yet again a significant milestone, since as a result we gained new partners and also a significant segment of the market.

The company has a retail as well as a professional line of products. What advantages does this fact bring for Alveola?

The two divisions have independent management but the cooperation between them is closer than one would presume. For the distribution of professional products bigger and deeper professional knowledge is required. We often hold meetings - including the collegues working on the professional product line – on the introduction or development of a retail product and we often ask for their expertise in preparing the background material, as well. In exchange, we inform them about the quickly changing trends of the retail market, with the help of which the division of professional products is able to offer – preceding the competition – always brand new and cutting-edge products to estheticians and hair dressers.

In 2005 you received the "Qualified Venture Award" (Minősített Vállalkozás díj) given by Üzlet & Siker (Business & Success) magazine; while in 2007 you had a record number of participants in the guest programme of the Beauty exhibition. What could the future hold for you?

The past few years were of significant importance for the company. Things happened fast and the demand for our products notably increased. This was the result on one hand of our competitive variety of products on the other hand of our excellent relationship with experts. The successes and the awards we received speak for themselves and we are honoured to be acknowledged like this. We could not have done without the acknowledgement and support of our professional partners. We gathered inspiration from our partners in many difficult situations. We would like to provide our clients even more in the future, but let us not talk about that just yet!

Having spent 15 years in professional hair styling and cosmetic industry how do you picture the future of the market?

The market environment was completely different back then, at the time of founding the company. It gave ideal opportunities for novelties to enter the country. Today a new product or product line will not even celebrate its second birthday for certain. The market quickly secludes itself from the non competitive products. The most important things are: excellent quality, auspicious price/value ratio, fast accessibility, the design and support of the product's lifespan. These services must operate continuously, with numerous extra services on high standards.

Do you have any surprises for the year 2008?

The year of 2008 will be entirely about the 15th anniversary of Alveola. Apart from the already traditional „Color and Care” and „Salon and Styling” newsletters published for the more significant exhibitions, we would like to indulge our customers month by month with discounts never seen before. We provide those visiting us in our showroom on Gizella út (str.) with special discounts, only available in our shop. At the end of the year we are going to organize a spectacular jubilee event for our most loyal customers so that they would not forget to re-visit us in the next fifteen years…