Japanese skincare leader Shiseido, due to losses in the Chinese market amounting to 10.8 billion yen, will close stores and implement layoffs.

Japanese skincare leader Shiseido (Shiseido) announced a deficit in its financial report on the 10th, showing a net loss of 10.8 billion yen for the full year of last year, the first annual loss in four years since the brand was affected by the new crown epidemic in 2020. As of November last year, the Shiseido headquarters was still optimistic that the company could make a profit of at least 6 billion yen. Reports indicate that in addition to the overall economic downturn in China, poor performance and expenses in local stores in Japan have led to a large number of layoffs and closures, affecting the business of this long-established skincare company.

Shiseido has experienced annual losses for the first time in Japan and China. When the author searched for information, it was found that Shiseido also experienced a system hacking incident in Taiwan. The Shiseido Taiwan official website rarely inserted a message about customer information leakage in many skincare product advertisements, and reminded customers to beware of fraud.

The brand name of Shiseido is derived from the Chinese I Ching.

Shiseido is a brand owned by Shiseido Co., Ltd., a leader in Japanese cosmetics and skincare products, beloved by women in Asia.

The name Shiseido is derived from the classic Chinese book 'I Ching', which means 'everything is born'. The founder, Arinobu Fukuhara, was a pharmacist who established Japan's first Western pharmacy. Although he studied Western medicine, the Shiseido brand became a Japanese skincare and cosmetics brand under his son Shinzo Fukuhara. He served as the first chairman of Shiseido and used his own creation, the camellia, as the brand logo. (Source: Shiseido Taiwan official website ))

Shiseido is the first international skincare brand to enter China.

Shiseido attaches great importance to the Chinese market and entered China as the first international skincare brand to open a store in 1981. In 2017, the Chinese market was once Shiseido's largest overseas market. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2022, the performance began to decline rapidly. It was once rumored that the company would lay off 40% of its workforce in China in 2023, but the company denied it.

Chinese women are no longer superstitious about expensive international brands

The skincare market in China has always been highly competitive, but due to high unemployment rates and a wave of layoffs, coupled with the economic recession in China, Chinese women no longer blindly trust expensive international brands. Japanese cosmetics are known for their high prices, with skincare products costing thousands to tens of thousands of yuan. When Chinese consumers can no longer afford the shrinking budget, the performance plummets like an avalanche.

In January this year, a large number of Japanese, Korean and international maintenance brands fled, even the well-known Korean brand Laneige (Laneige) also left, in addition to Shiseido, Kose, Kao, FANCL and other Japanese brand stores have all closed down due to the decline of the Chinese market, and have left the Chinese market. Shiseido's results fell by 26 percent and Gaussian by 28 percent. ( Southern Metropolis Daily )

Expensive skincare brand collective RIP, in addition to affordable over-the-counter drugstore changing consumer shopping habits, coupled with fierce market competition, all affect market performance. In recent years, the Chinese authorities have begun to oppose Western materialism and luxury culture, coupled with economic recession, cosmetics and skincare products have become dispensable, after all, if you don't even have money to eat, who will still go out to buy makeup. And there are beauty filters that can be used! Hehe, always turning decay into magic.

The Japanese skincare leader Shiseido, with a loss of 10.8 billion yen in the Chinese market, will close stores and lay off employees. Originally appeared on ChainNews ABMedia.