Shiseido Expands Into Argentina

Beginning in May 2012, Shiseido announced it will commence sales of its cosmetics products in Argentina. The initiative is aimed at fortifying Shiseido’s presence in the Latin American market. To achieve this, Shiseido will deploy its strategic strengths in prestige marketing that have been accumulated over years of operation in the European and U.S. markets through the Greta Group, a distributor located in Buenos Aires with a proven track record in terms of sales of prestige cosmetics products in Argentina. Products to be sold in Argentina include global brand Shiseido prestige skin care and makeup lines. With this endeavor, Shiseido’s overseas cosmetics sales will encompass 89 countries and regions. Argentina is the fifth country in the Latin American market in which Shiseido is pursuing inroads, following Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Panama.

Working to continue to improve its overseas growth, Shiseido wants to strengthen its response to emerging countries as a means of developing the next growth engine following China. Specifically, with regard to the Latin American market, Shiseido has been promoting initiatives to expand sales as well as the presence of the Shiseido brand by introducing sales of products in Colombia from November 2010 and Panama in January 2011. At the same time, with regard to Brazil, which ranks third in the global cosmetics market following the United States and Japan, the BareMinerals brand from Shiseido’s North American subsidiary will be introduced to the market in May 2012.

As the second emerging economy in South America following Brazil, Argentina has been achieving economic growth for eight consecutive years since 2003, and consumer spending in the country is on the rise. As to its cosmetic market, Argentina also ranks second among South American countries. With a well-established sales network of locally capitalized prestige cosmetic specialty stores in place, full-scale business expansion of major European and U.S. cosmetics brands is being carried out. In fiscal 2010, the scale of the Argentine prestige cosmetics market has expanded steadily, realizing a 30% increase to $127 million compared with the previous year. Accordingly, Shiseido views this as an opportune time to introduce the Shiseido brand to the Argentine market.

As mentioned above, helping Shiseido carry out its Argentine introduction is Argentinean company the Greta Group. Founded in 1977, the Greta Group is a distributor handling sales and marketing of imported cosmetics products with a primary emphasis on prestige cosmetic brands. The group engages in business in a total of four countries in the southern region of South America: Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. With regard to product sales, Shiseido will select stores with a proven performance in counseling sales for prestige cosmetic products. During the initial year in 2012, Shiseido will develop products in approximately 15 stores and expand to 20 stores or more the following year.

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