8. Kao
Japan
www.kao.com
Beauty sales: $4.1 billion
Corporate sales: $10.5 billion
Key Personnel:
Takuya Goto, chairman; Motoki Ozaki, president and chief executive officer; Toshio Hoshino, senior executive vice president, Nivea Kao Co., Ltd.; Takuo Gotu, executive vice president and senior vice president, global production & engineering and vice president, environment & safety management; Hiroshi Kanda, executive vice president, global consumer products and vice president, global marketing development; Norihiko Takagi, executive vice president and president, international business, consumer products; Shunichi Nakagawa, executive vice president, vice president, legal & compliance-global and vice president, global corporate communications; Toshihide Saito, president, global chemical business; Shinichi Mita, vice president, global accounting & finance; Tatsuo Takahashi, president and chief executive officer, Kao Customer Marketing, Co., Ltd.; Masato Hirota, president, global beauty care business; Toshiharu Numata, senior vice president, global R&D; Toshio Takayama, chairman, Kanebo Cosmetics, Inc.
Products/Brands:
Personal care products including Sofina cosmetics, Lavenus hair care, Kanebo cosmetics, and Jergens and Curel hand soap.
Kao is relaunching Asience. |
New Products:
Personal care—Segreta hair care, Bioré Marshmallow skin care, Bioré U Apple Mango body cleanser, Blaune Point Cover hair colors and Liese Supply citron-scented hair styling water. Cosmetics—Hada Ka and Phytomax skin care, Kanebo Impress premium skin care and Molton Brown Cosmetics (acquisition).
Comments:
Corporate sales increased more than 25% last year primarily due to the inclusion of full-year results of Kanebo Cosmetics, an acquisition from the previous year, which increased cosmetic sales by a whopping 243% to $2.5 billion (at current exchange rates). What’s more, the huge gain came at a time when the Japanese cosmetics market remained flat. During the year, Kanebo launched Impress, a prestige skin care brand, while Kao Sofina introduced Hada Ka, a new skin care brand and Phytomax, a drugstore brand.
While Kanebo’s success garners the most attention, Kao’s other businesses also reported gains. Personal care sales rose 3.6% to $1.6 billion. Overall domestic sales (including fabric and home care) surged 30%, while international sales increased 17%.
Personal care sales were boosted with the launch of Bioré Marshmallow Whip, which helped move Kao into the No. 1 slot in the facial cleanser market. On the other hand, sales of the company’s shampoos and conditioners remained flat due to heavy competition. However, this fall, the company will relaunch Asience, a global hair brand first introduced in 2003, as, according to Kao, “a dramatic evolution of the products in its quest to enhance the beauty of Asian hair.” The Asience brand includes shampoo, conditioner, treatment and hair mask. The focus of the new products is 18-MEA, which exists on the outermost layer of the hair shaft and affects its feel. According to Kao, the new technology employed in Asience repairs the protective coating, making hair silky and smooth.
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