Faced With Shrinking Domestic Market, Japanese Beauty Brands Speed Up Overseas Expansion

Japan's cosmetics companies are speeding up their efforts to expand their businesses overseas. Driven by the slowdown in foreign-tourist-driven sales, beauty brands are looking for new reliable sources of revenue. In July 2016, Shiseido Co. acquired US-based luxury cosmetics company Gurwitch Products LLC, the Japanese company's first foreign acquisition in six years. Earlier in June, the company signed an exclusive licensing deal with Italy-based luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana for sales of fragrances and other personal care products. In August, Kose Corp. launched its flagship skincare brand Sekkisei in Hawaii. Domestic sales of cosmetics reached 1.5 trillion yen in 2015, driven by foreign tourists; however, in April‒June 2016, average spending of foreign tourists fell 10 percent to 159,930 yen per person, compared with the same period in the previous year.