The Japanese cosmetics giant's 30 billion yen R&D facility in Yokohama will act as an open lab for dermatological research expected to lead to new skin care and colour cosmetics products for Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
Scheduled to open in 2018, the Mirai 21 District center is part of a mid-to-long term 'VISION 2020' plan where the company is pursuing sales growth and cost optimization, including increased investment in R&D.
"In terms of world markets, given that Japanese quality serves as a strong competitive advantage, we will continue to set the basis for basic and generic research in Japan, where Shiseido was born, to support future growth."
Building a regionally-oriented research framework
Shiseido says it is important that its' researchers stay in touch by never falling unaware of the changes in the times or the city, directly feeling the dynamism of ordinary people and the changes in people's lifestyles.
With this in mind, the company also aims to increase the number of researchers worldwide from 1,000 at present to 1,500 by 2020.
"This Center will become the forum through which we aim to materialize an open research form where innovation is created in an environment that buzzes with activity, enabling customers, marketers, and researchers to mingle on a daily basis," say reps.
A major player in Asia...
Local companies Shiseido, Kao, and Kosé are dominating Japan’s beauty industry as they better engage consumers, although global brands are leading when it comes to e-commerce adoption.
According to L2’s newly released Digital IQ Index: Japan Beauty, the three local conglomerates control 34% of the country’s skin care and 43% of the colour cosmetics market; with six of the top 10 brands as ranked by L2 based in Japan.
The digital analyst’s latest report states that brands are having to make big efforts in what is a stagnant market, and this shows as only 21 companies are rated as ‘Gifted’ or above on L2’s scale.
This is because Japan is a unique market in that colour cosmetics are projected to decline by 0.2% between 2013 and 2018 and skin care sales are expected to grow by just 0.1%, according to Euromonitor figures.