The company’s Japan-based Global Innovation Centre will operate as the hub of the structure, the company has said, focusing its efforts on base-level research once it opens at the end of 2018.
This research will then be rolled out to the regional facilities across the company’s global network, i.e. the spokes of the organisation, which will be able to adapt and target this basic research into locally-relevant products.
“Shiseido will then use regional laboratories as spokes where products and their values will be developed targeted at consumers in each area in order build ‘genuine emotional connection’,” the company confirmed in a statement.
Around the world in nine labs
Currently, Shiseido boasts nine research facilities across five countries, including one which was opened in the US last week, the Americas Innovation Center.
Looking ahead, this international presence is set to strengthen even further, with the upcoming opening of its Yokohama central global research hub on track for launch within two years, allowing for the hub-and-spoke system to come into play.
Following this, the company states, the innovation centres already operating in the US, Europe, China and Southeast Asia will see expansion in scale.
Vision 2020
Shiseido’s determined efforts to create a dominant global foothold in the beauty industry plays a central part in its wider ‘Vision 2020’ strategy, which explicitly positions the brand as strong beauty leader globally.
"It is our goal to deliver the innovative products developed based on the insights and values of our consumers around the world," the company confirms.
“With its solid presence established in the high-end market in Japan, the brand is now marketed in 12 countries and regions: Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, the US, Canada, and Russia,” Shiseido has previously stated of its increasingly global presence.
Its recent expansion into global travel retail acts as further confirmation of this strategic direction.