Japanese cosmetics brand Do-Best eyes Asian expansion

Japanese cosmetics brand Do-Best is looking at opportunities in the Philippines and broader Southeast Asian markets, including Indonesia.

Do-Best CEO Daitaro Sugawara was in the Philippines for a group networking session organised by Security Bank and Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. He was matched with executives from local retailers including Metro Retail and National Bookstore.

Do-Best was founded 45 years ago to produce “high-quality, low-priced products” and is already exporting to Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan.

Sugawara says the company wants to tap into the fast-growing Asian markets with young consumers seeking low-cost cosmetics and beauty lines. Its products are already popular in Japan’s proliferation of 100 Yen shops and similar stores.

“That’s why I was interested to have a meeting in the Philippines. My product is like my family, so I want Philippine distributors or retail stores to take care of our products.

“I want to keep the original price as in Japan,” Sugawara said.

Tadahiro Miyamoto, GM of BTMU’s Manila branch, says a lot of Japanese companies are now looking at the Philippine domestic market. “You should look at the shopping areas, you see a lot of Japanese products.”

A large number of participants in the recent business-matching event were from the retail sector, agriculture and real estate.