Shiseido and health and beauty retailer A.S. Watson Group have entered a three-year strategic alliance, with the goal of strengthening their existing strategic partnership and co-creating beauty innovations that meet the demand for J-beauty.
The companies have previously collaborated on a product range of urban damage care, released under Shiseido’s sensitive skin care brand D Program. D Program was introduced into Watsons China in April 2019, tripling expected sales.
Tenents of the extended partnership include:
- Continued co-development, including products for the brands Za and Senka and more exclusive products within other brands, utilizing analytics and customer insights to deepen their understand of A.S. Watson customers and overall markets
- The extension of Shiseido’s reach into China via A.S. Watson’s network of more than 3,600 stores in Mainland China—serving over 70% of the country’s targeted female customers—as well as other operating markets like Indonesia and the Philippines
- The creation of more sustainable beauty through the co-development of innovations fueled by the companies’ expertise
“A.S. Watson and Shiseido share the vision that contributing to the creation of a better world through co-developing beauty innovations,” said Masahiko Uotani, representative director, president and CEO of Shiseido Company, Limited. “We are very excited about the new step in our long-term partnership with the largest health and beauty retailer in the world. Our fascinating aspect of this partnership is that it keeps us innovating the beauty initiatives, addressing huge consumer demands in Asia on Japanese beauty products.”
Dominic Lai, group managing director of A.S. Watson Group, added: “With our customer insights and global knowledge of the beauty industry, A.S. Watson is able to help its business partners enter new markets and engage the right customers efficiently. Riding on the successful launch of d program Urban Damage Care range, the co-creation of Shiseido and A.S. Watson, in countries and regions including China, Taiwan and Thailand, we are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Shiseido to enhance customer connectivity and drive Japanese beauty in our operating markets.”
