Kose Shinohara Kazuyuki: Technology leads the era of emotional beauty

Skincare product is not a medicine, it is not a purely efficacy-oriented thing, it has a lot of emotional and emotional added value.

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A year's plan starts with spring, and industry changes do not wait. In 2023, what new trends will emerge in the industry? Where are the new growth points in the market? Based on the upcoming 6th China Cosmetics Trend Conference on February 13, the column "Trend Talks" interviewed 50+ founders of famous companies and industry professionals from home and abroad to help open the door to the cosmetics industry with fresh perspectives. CHAILEEDO invited Shinohara Kazuyuki, President of Kose Cosmetics Sales China, to share with us the cosmetic trends in China.

CHAILEEDO: What changes in the industry have impressed you in the past year?

Shinohara Kazuyuki: Beauty has become one of the brightest growth tracks in the consumer goods category nowadays. With the development of the brands themselves and the expansion and extension of their product lines, we can see that more and more brands in the industry are taking a more aggressive stance and trying to raise the voice volume of their brands in the younger market (Generation Z). In order to form a deeper link with Gen Z, and then strengthen their awareness and satisfaction to the brand that to pave the way for future purchase conversions.

Meanwhile, as the impact of overseas travel stagnation caused by the epidemic, major foreign beauty groups have reinforced their repositioning in Hainan and duty-free channels.

CHAILEEDO: Could you please summarize Kose's 2022 and look ahead to 2023 in one word each? What are the reasons?

Shinohara Kazuyuki: Looking back at 2022 - key word: Change.

Decorte and SEKKISEI, the two cornerstone brands of Kose China, share a common keyword in 2022: Change.

For Chinese consumers, Decorte Moisturizing Liposome is a highly recognizable item. At the beginning of the year, we completed the upgrade of this serum to Decorte Liposome Advanced Serum in the Chinese market, thus launching the renewal of the LIPOSOME Skin Care line, the core of the brand. The Decorte Liposome Advanced Repair Cream launched in November gives full play to the specialty of multi layer micro fat capsule technology, and it is expected that it will bring a breakthrough growth to the company.

SEKKISEI is a brand with a 37-year history. We have been working hard in recent years to explore young people's favorite communication methods while focusing on product power. 22 years, we have made many new changes and attempts. For example, we have made full use of the influence of our brand spokesperson Hanyu Yuzuru to communicate and interact fully with the young community that loves him at China International Imports Expo and on social networks. We have collaborated with the popular anime Demon Slayer to launch a co-branded line of merchandise. SEKKISEI also continues to invest in the exploration and implementation of sustainable solutions through projects such as the SAVE the BLUE environmental campaign.

Looking ahead to 2023 - Keyword: Diversity

In the face of different consumer needs and the pursuit of product quality and the phenomenon of consumer upgrading, major international beauty groups are accelerating their efforts in the Chinese beauty market with a matrixed multi-brand model. In the future, Kose will also increase its investment in brand building under this trend.

Kose hopes to build a diverse, inclusive and more balanced brand matrix in China. In addition to the two well known brands SEKKISEI and Decorte, Kose will also continue to nurture potential brands such as Kose Infinity and One By Kose. At the same time, Kose is also considering strengthening its brand matrix in the high-end beauty segment. For example, by providing face-to-face service to key customers and high-quality MADE IN JAPAN products to optimize the customer experience.

At the same time, we also believe that offline interaction with customers is likely to be gradually restored by 2023.

In this epidemic, real interactions and experiences between each others have been limited for a long time. The exclusive value of online will then be reassessed in the future. The trend back to offline will be something to look forward to. In the cosmetics sector, a consultative shopping experience that look and select products at same time, or having a guide service, is likely to regain attention.

CHAILEEDO: Where is the next breakthrough point for efficacy cosmetics?

Shinohara Kazuyuki: Skincare product is not a medicine, it is not a purely efficacy-oriented thing, it has a lot of emotional and emotional added value. Skincare product, especially high-end skincare product, not only focuses on efficacy, product and technology, but also on the texture and fragrance of the product, which are essential to the success of a skincare product.

Good packaging, skin feel, and fragrance will bring a sense of pleasure. Such a sense of pleasure is able to give people a psychological suggestion, and this suggestion will give the spirit to stimulate the body and mind to be happy, so as to achieve a good skin care effect.

Our group's brand Decorte has always pursued the concept of "Integrated beauty".

Neurotransmitters, which are secreted when people feel happy, are also present in the skin and act on the epidermal cells. When epidermal cells receive Neurotransmitters, they produce IP3, a substance that is essential for promoting epidermal cell differentiation. The production of "IP3" is directly related to the shaping of the epidermis (regeneration of the epidermis and formation of epidermal structures).

Therefore, brands like Decorte, which are based on the concept of "Integrated Beauty", will focus more on the creation of new beauty methods than on breakthroughs in ingredients. In the future, we may focus on the adjustment and creation of the body's internal mechanism. For example, by promoting the production of happy hormones to strengthen the body's own power to become beautiful.

CHAILEEDO: Traffic is getting more and more expensive. What is the new breakthrough point for brands?

Shinohara Kazuyuki: To a certain extent, brand is a kind of energy, reflecting an impulse and willingness to take action deep inside consumers. Therefore, instead of traffic being expensive, it is more likely that users' needs are getting higher and higher in the current competitive environment, thus making the conversion of brand communication further difficult and the cost of acquiring users becoming higher.

For us, the new breaking point of the brand should be to enhance the potential energy. First of all, as a beauty brand, we should provide users with high quality rational value and really solve the needs of users. Second, to provide users with differentiated perceptual value, so that they have a good psychological feeling. In this way, we can effectively drive consumers to keep buying.