Kanebo extends presence in Europe

The Japan based cosmetic giant is planning to increase its sales turnover significantly by 2010, hoping for a 25 per cent boost from approximately 260 billion yen, to 270 billion yen (euros). Following closely behind Shiseido as the leading cosmetics manufacturer in Japan, Kanebo has announced that it will benefit from the many German cosmetic retailers that already stock its best-selling products, by incorporating its full skin care line into these stores. Due to increasing consumer desire for its brand, the company intends to increase its total overseas turnover from just below 10 per cent, to 15 per cent, by honing the marketing of its products to emerging markets such as China. The company, acquired by Kao cosmetics last year, is also set to make further change by gradually changing its name into Sensai, the current name of the company's core product line. These changes emulate the current trend that has been flagged up by market analyst's Euromonitor of Japanese cosmetic players making their way up the global ranking of businesses that hold court within the industry. With the global cosmetics and toiletries market getting progressively more competitive, companies such as Kanebo are battling to remain in the top ten ranking, reshuffling brand portfolios and making more acquisitions and mergers in order to target a wider audience and reposition themselves nearer to the top. Kao, owner of Kanebo, became a top ten ranked company for the first time last year, knocking German based Henkel out of tenth place, after driving up its global market share to nearly three per cent. The new drive from the Kanebo arm of the company will no doubt further position them at the top of the ranking, with the company suggesting that it expects to achieve tenfold increase of its sales in China, from 1.9 billion yen to 20 billion yen (euro). However, industry insiders have claimed that, despite this current growth spurt, the Japanese players hold no real threat to Western manufacturers who continue to have a strong hold on the industry. Diana Dodson of Euromonitor stated "Despite their potential for global expansion, the Japanese players remain largely focused on their home market, which, while massive is fairly mature and under pressure in a lackluster​ economic​ environment"​.