Centennial goals: Pola Orbis aims to achieve at least $2.4bn in beauty sales for 100th anniversary

During its FY2021 earnings conference held on February 19, the firm announced its 2029 long-term management plan, which highlighted three growth strategies.

One of which was to develop the global presence of its cosmetics business, which consists of brands such as POLA, Orbis, Jurlique, and THREE.

Domestically, the company is aiming to improve the profitability of its business and achieve sustainable growth with profit by 2029.

It expects to achieve at least JPY180bn (U$1.56bn) in net sales and stable growth with a CAGR of 2% to 3%.

Overseas, the company hopes to achieve at least JPY100bn (U$869m) in net sales and growth with a CAGR of at least 15%.

To reach this goal, Pola Orbis is aiming to accelerate its growth in China, a key overseas market for the company with four of its brands: POLA, Orbis, THREE and Jurlique.

It has mapped out an expansion in all retail channels, including department stores, standalone stores, travel retail, and e-commerce.

At the moment, POLA is enjoying relative success in China. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, sales of the brand increased by 120% to approximately U$12.2m.

Following this, the brand unveiled five doors on Hainan Island alone to capitalise on the brand’s surge of success.

The company said it plans to expand operations for the rest of the brands ‘swiftly’ in China.

In addition to China, the firm said it planned to expand its brands into new regions, such as South East Asia.

Lastly, the company said it would be looking into stemming the flow of its products in the customer-to-customer market, which it believes may risk damaging its brand equity.

As part of its long-term strategy, Pola Orbis will be investing in areas beyond beauty, such as wellness.

It will also develop its capabilities in beauty tech. For instance, it has developed a wellness app, me-fullness, that analyses fatigue and stress through facial analysis.

The company is also planning to launch an artificial skin in 2029 as well as develop DIY and more specialised cosmetics.

Lastly, Pola Orbis is aiming to strengthen its research and development capabilities. It is planning to invest at least 2% of consolidated net sales back into RD and expand its research beyond skin.

The firm also announced sustainability goals for 2029. It said it was aiming to be 100% sustainable by design. This means promoting refills and utilising recycled plastic materials.

As a start, Pola Orbis will no longer provide its customers with shopping bags across all its brands starting July this year.