Kosé ramps up high-end offerings to reinforce its foothold in Japan’s luxury sector

Kazutoshi Kobayashi, president and chief executive of Kosé, highlighted that Decorté smashed its records in 2023, reporting its best results since 2018.

This was attributed in part to the firm’s 3G strategy to expand its consumer base globally, regardless of gender or generation.

Additionally, Decorté benefitted from the celebrity endorsement of Japanese athlete Shohei Ohtani.

The brand also had a record-breaking year for awards from various local beauty magazines.

“Decorté won 423 best cosmetics awards, the most in its history. The company is highly regarded not only in skin care, but also in various other categories such as base makeup and perfumes.​

In particular, the brand racked up wins in 28 categories with 13 products during @cosme’s Best Cosmetics Awards, one of the most influential beauty awards in Japan.

According to @cosme, this was a record-breaking win in the award’s 24-year history.

All this resulted in the brand growing by double-digits in Japan.

This year, the company is aiming for another double-digit sales growth year by strengthening its AQ and Liposome lines and launching new products.

“This year, we will continue to strengthen our product capabilities in both skin care and makeup, with a focus on the AQ and Liposome series, which drove last year’s sales,” ​Kobayashi.

Despite the brand’s success in Japan, sluggish demand in China resulted in a 19.5% decline in the brand’s overall revenue.

2024 plans​

In first two months of 2024, Decorté launched a new AQ brightening series and relaunched its popular line-up of loose powders to reach a broader consumer base.

In addition, the company was working to expand the brand’s online presence to expand its reach, especially among the younger consumer base.

“In addition to department stores and specialty cosmetics stores, we will also focus on developing customers through online channels, aiming for double-digit growth in the current fiscal year,”​ said Kobayashi.

“The diversification of channels, including e-commerce, has made it convenient to purchase popular products, creating a virtuous cycle… The brand has expanded its customer base, especially among young people and has gained the support of customers of all ages. We will work to expand customer contact points and foster brand loyalty in order to retain customers added successfully in our efforts.”​

At the same time, Kobayashi said the firm sees an opportunity to further boost its profile in the prestige market with Albion.

“Albion will focus on counselling, one of its strengths, to promote its brand value,”​ said Kobayashi.

The brand has recently launched a new brightening serum.

Furthermore, Albion will mark the 50^th​ anniversary of its flagship product, Skin Conditioner, and use it as an opportunity to boost its skin care products including the new serum.

Despite the soft environment in China, Albion sales rose by 4.3% due to the strong performance of Albion Elégance in Japan.

Overall, Kosé’s 2023 sales increased by 3.9% to JPY300.4bn (USD2bn) compared to JPY289.1bn (USD1.92bn) last year. Operating profit decreased by 2.77% from JPY22.1bn (USD147.1m) in 2022 to JPY15.9bn (USD105.8m)