Cosmetic retailing project Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cosmetic retailing project - Research Proposal Example Cosmetics in Japan have traditionally been sold through keiretsu stores that emphasized personalized, individual attention. In the mid-1990s, the rise of serufu-sabisu (self-service) products showed that customers were willing to sacrifice service for price. This led to a separation between high-end quality brands and the inexpensive utilitarian products. Shiseido once relied upon taimen hanbai (face-to-face, personal selling), as the core of its marketing strategy. The company believed consumers needed counseling before purchasing cosmetics. In June 1994, Shiseido made a radical shift, moving forty-one brands into the self-service category, followed by another sixty-five products in the fall. By 1995, about 42 percent of the companys products were sold through self service. Akira Tsuruma, managing director of Shiseido, estimates that half of the companys sales will come from the serufu category in the future (Shiseido Home Page 2008). The image of Shiseido is based on red colors which symbolizes a rising sun, and its national identity. Thus, the main colors of its project â€Å"Pureness† are white and blue (see Appendix 1). Shiseido spun off new brands such as Ipsa and Ayura. Sadao Abe, senior executive director of Shiseido, noted that they introduced these brands not only for their own sake but also for protecting the purity of the Shiseido brand umbrella. With a rapidly increasing elderly population, many Japanese ads feature seniors. For example, a Shiseido ad shows a gray-haired woman in a kimono. A series of ads for a skincare product were targeted toward women in their fifties, an audience that is typically ignored in cosmetics ads. The company has begun to sharpen its brand identity through the image of â€Å"successful aging.† It weeded out outliers from its line and launched new individual brands such as Ayura and Ipsa with different identities