Jason Smith, regional director of Asia Pacific, Quadpack told CosmeticsDesign-Asia Quadpack sees APAC as a significant market for its cosmetics business.
“As Asia Pacific accounts for over a third of total global cosmetic exports, securing a position as a key packaging supplier to this market is a critical part of Quadpack’s long-term vision. This is only reinforced with the region’s production tipped to grow much faster than the likes of Europe and the Americas over the next few years,” he said.
In the last two years, the company has been performing particularly well in Japan and South Korea. According to Smith, the “phenomenal” success was largely driven by its wood offerings manufactured by its Quadpack Wood facility.
Smith elaborated: “One example is the cap we created for Korean brand The SAEM for its new luxury skincare range for men. Beautifully crafted from sustainably-sourced ash, it perfectly follows the company’s ethos of finding inspiration in nature.”
In the next five years, Quadpack plans to continue concentrating its efforts on Japan and South Korea and further secure its position in the market.
Smith said: “In many respects, the rest of the world is now turning and listening to these two players as leaders of cosmetic innovation, which aligns perfectly with our position as a creator, manufacturer and provider of new packaging solutions,”
He added: “Thanks to enormous investment from Chinese and European brands, contract manufacturing in South Korea and Japan is one of the biggest growth areas. Our European insight and expertise, in addition to our packaging solutions, can play an important role for these manufacturers as they service overseas clients.”
Challenges and opportunities
Smith acknowledged that the company’s path to becoming the market leader has its obstacles, especially in the saturated Asian market.
“Consumers in Asia are spoiled for choice when it comes to cosmetics; there have never been so many brands in Asia as there are today. So the challenge is how to stand out in the crowd,” he said.
However, Smith also noted that these challenges presented plenty of opportunity for the company.
“There are many factors at play, but packaging is one of the most significant, especially when it comes to first impressions. This is driving demand for creative, unique packaging which is exactly Quadpack’s speciality.”
Quadpack also sees the rapid growth of e-commerce as a distribution channel as an opportunity of the company.
“With no opportunity for consumers to engage, touch and feel a product when shopping online, visuals of your offering become all the more crucial. Engaging packaging, a core competency of Quadpack, becomes even more relevant as brands fight to win share of mind,” said Smith
Smith said exhibiting at leading cosmetics tradeshows, such as Cosmoprof Asia, was part of its business strategy for Asia.
As Cosmoprof Asia takes place near the end of the year, Smith added that it remained a vital platform for the company to launch into the next year.
“Each edition [of Cosmoprof Asia] has been better than the last and it continues to serve as a successful meeting point for East and West. The terrific diversity of visitors and exhibitors alike is a testament to this. We always walk away from Cosmoprof Asia having reinforced our stakeholder partnerships across Asia,” he said.
In addition to Japan and South Korea, the company is also keeping an eye on the emerging Indian market.
Smith believes the region will come into its own in the next three to five years and estimates that the local beauty sector is expected to exceed $20bn by 2025.
However, the region is not without its challenges, said Smith. “It is a very tough market to crack, with high price sensitivity and each region in the country having its own sub-trends thanks to incredibly demanding consumers.”