WRITE for ATol ADVERTISE MEDIA KIT GET ATol BY EMAIL ABOUT ATol CONTACT US
Asia Time Online - Daily News
             
Asia Times Chinese
AT Chinese



    Japan
     May 24, 2006
Shiseido to expand Chinese store network 70%

TOKYO - Japan's Shiseido plans to raise the number of its boutiques in China to 1,700 by the year ending March 2007, a 70% increase from the previous fiscal year.

Japan's largest cosmetics manufacturer also aims to lift its Chinese sales to 40 billion yen (US$356.45 million), up from 30 billion yen in fiscal 2005.

In a bid to catch up to French firm L'Oreal as well as other US and European rivals, Shiseido will tap demand outside of major cities by broadening its sales channels. The company boasts the largest Chinese presence among Japanese cosmetics manufacturers, having started making and selling products there in the early 1990s.

Because Shiseido anticipated that its customers would consist primarily of high-income earners, it has been setting up shop



mostly in department stores. Of China's roughly 3,500 department stores, the firm considers about 500 to be high-end because of their lineup of foreign brands and extensive customer service. Now that it has completed opening outlets at these stores, Shiseido will focus on building a network of specialty boutiques.

Shiseido's stores are stocked with skin care products made for the Japanese market, including Whitia and Asplir. But this fiscal year the company will debut a brand produced especially for Chinese consumers.

And in another effort to spark demand for cosmetics, it has embarked on a strategy to improve consumers' knowledge about beauty. Last summer, it offered lessons in applying makeup, and plans to extend them to 200 locations this fiscal year.

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

 

 
 



All material on this website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
Head Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110