Shiseido establishes joint venture in the Philippines

Shiseido plans on establishing a joint venture, Shiseido Philippines Corporation, to strengthen its cosmetics business in the Philippines. Shiseido Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. signed a contract for the joint venture with a Singapore based distributor, Luxasia Partners Pte. Ltd.

The new company will start operations in July 2019, and Shiseido Asia Pacific will hold the majority stake in the company.

Currently, Shiseido has two authorized distributors in the Philippines.

However, the newly established Shiseido Philippines will sell products from all of Shiseido’s business categories across Prestige, Fragrance, Cosmetics & Personal Care to accelerate investments in marketing and increase sales.

Under its “Prestige First” strategy, as part of the medium-to-long-term strategy “VISION 2020,” Shiseido is now aiming for global growth through marketing, with top priority placed on the prestige field.

The Philippines boasts a population of more than 100 million, a high percentage of young people, and the third largest cosmetics market in rapidly growing Southeast Asia (approximately USD three billion based on our estimate).

The prestige market is expected to continue its double-digit growth until 2020, and it has been undergoing a rapid expansion in the makeup category in particular.

In addition, with the expanded rising middle class, Japanese brands have gained an advantage in the country, branding the market as one with high potential.

The group plans on strengthening prestige brands such as “SHISEIDO,” “NARS,” and “Laura Mercier,” and roll out its cosmetics and personal care products that are popular in Asian countries at outlets including drugstores that have risen in the ranking of cosmetics sales channels for the middle-income class.