‘Conquer the heart’: Japan brand Meeth international adopts ‘fascinate first’ approach to international expansion

15-May-2022 - Last updated on 30-May-2022 at 11:25 GMT

Meeth says the core of its global expansion plans is to ‘fascinate people first’ instead of pushing them to buy products. [meeth]

Japanese beauty brand Meeth says the core of its global expansion plans is to ‘fascinate people first’ instead of pushing them to buy products.

Meeth is a Japanese beauty brand founded in 2019 by Sonmi, a local model and celebrity. The brand is a reflection of Sonmi’s belief in gentle, yet nourishing skin care products backed by Japanese innovation.

Since the brand launched in 2019, it has launched the Meeth Touch-Up Lab, a standalone flagship store in Tokyo as it expanded following in Japan.

Within its first year, Meeth expanded overseas to markets including China, Taiwan and Singapore.

In April, it unveiled its first overseas flagship store in Singapore. Moving forward, the firm is also looking to expand its business in Malaysia and make its debut in Europe via Spain.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia, regional brand director Adrian Roche said that the company is not rushing to conquer the global beauty market.

“We’re not rushing to sell. The mission of our international expansion is to fascinate people first. Sonmi is not in a rush. She believes that if you don’t conquer the heart first, you won’t sell. As long as we conquer the heart, we will have repeat purchases. We’ll keep going at our own pace, it’s fine with us.”

The company’s priority he added, is to gather feedback from its customers and address he needs and concerns they have.

“Sonmi believes that we need to always be at 100% because we are a small brand. If we don’t aim for 100%, the best possible ever, at any given time, there’s no future,” said Roche.

“Compromise is not the philosophy of the brand. We go as far as to say we can change your skin in seven days or is money back… This has been a defining moment for the brand in 2022. It’s our hero statement and brand mission we have in place as we continue to strengthen the brand.”

The firm declined to share its sales figures or targets, but Roche said it was aiming to breakeven within this year.

Product development is another area the firm is focusing on. The brand started with face care products but is progressively expanding its portfolio cover the “whole spectrum” of beauty, said Roche.

As part of this expansion, the company is set to launch its first hair care products this year.

Circular beauty initiatives

In addition to this, it is also looking at improving elements of its existing line-up, most notably, packaging.

The brand recently debuted refillable systems for three of its products: Ceraderma Essence, Twelement Day Cream and Skin Repair Night Cream.

According to the firm, in 2021, it managed to save 32% and 44% on plastic packaging waste from the launch of Ceraderma Essence and Twelement Day Cream refills.

It has also managed to save 20% of plastic packaging waste in just three months with the launch of its Skin Repair Night Cream Refill Pack launch.

It also piloted a recycling program in Singapore as part of the the National Recycling Programme helmed by local statutory board National Environment Agency (NEA).

The recycling programme allows consumers to return empty packaging from any brand and rewards them with stamps they can collect and use to redeem a meeth product of their choice once they collect 10 stamps.

The company is only at the beginning of its eco journey and understands that there are limitations to recycling, said Roche.

Instead, the firm will be focusing on promoting reusable and refillable concepts. “The idea is to become a 100% circular brand,” said Roche

‘Let the creator create’

Despite being a young brand, Meeth is progressively gaining traction in the market. Roche attributes the success the brand has achieved locally and overseas to its founder’s freedom to explore and create new products.

“From the start, Sonmi surrounded herself with people who knew business. People with experience came in and regulated the processes and helped the company continue to grow without limiting her in anyway. We all started to participate in the growth of this brand without necessarily affecting the way she wanted to run it.

“I think you see it quite often when corporate people try to come in and try to enforce discipline. But Sonmi is the creator; let her be the creator and in no way do we intervene with that. And this, I think, gave her the freedom to grow a lot more.”