Shiseido Outlines Online Strategy

For the new business model, Shiseido will “maximize contact points with new customers by linked value-added oriented web marketing while taking full advantage of its strength of possessing an actual store network.” Value-added oriented web marketing seeks to generate demand not only through cosmetics sales, but also through proposing new beauty care experiences as well as enhances efforts to secure customers by sharing customer data with actual stores, according to the Japanese beauty firm.

Specifically, seeking to attract more new customers, Shiseido will set up a new website under the theme of beauty and health in which a virtual shopping mall that includes multiple businesses besides cosmetics will be opened and pay and free web content will be developed. In parallel, the functions of Shiseido’s official website will be rebuilt and enhanced to draw the interest of customers who are enticed by the new website.

In addition to conveying standard information on Shiseido’s products, the new website will have new built-in functions such as “store navigation” to introduce Shiseido contract stores, “online counseling” for customers to select suitable products and an “online store” that can accept orders 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Shiseido contends that this approach will enable the firm to expand its contact with new customers and lead them to Shiseido contract stores. Efforts also will be taken to secure customers by working together with contract stores.

The “Beauty Platform” website (BPF) will invites various companies including non-cosmetics businesses to open their shops online in this virtual shopping mall. While the scale of the domestic market is shrinking due to a decline in population, expansion of contact with new customers is a common issue faced by many companies. Therefore, such a website is expected to efficiently function as a site to connect customers and various businesses (information, products and services

The website will also work like a “restaurant search and reservation site” to lead customers to actual stores by introducing nearby Shiseido contract stores, using functions to search service information of respective stores and to make a reservation at a store for service directly from the website.