Financial focus: Kosé, Watsons and Yatsen and more in our latest beauty business and finance update

1 – Kosé aiming to capture China’s travel retail market with skin care brand Decorté

Japan’s Kosé Corporation is focusing investments into China’s travel retail market, namely in Hainan Island, where it hopes to boost its high-end skin care brand Decorté.​

The company is expecting its travel retail sales to grow over the coming year by around 10% on the back of the overall growth of the market, primarily in Hainan, where competition is expected to intensify.

The firm is particularly focused on building up Decorté, its prestige beauty brand, in China

2 – Vellvette Lifestyle aims to help ENN Beauty capture India’s tier two and three cities

The company behind India’s SUGAR Cosmetics says it will target growth in the country’s tier two and three cities​ for skin care brand ENN Beauty, after taking a majority stake.

One of the priorities was to make ENN Beauty more accessible to beauty consumers in India’s tier two and three cities.

“The team will look at re-strategising the brand product’s average selling point to make it more accessible and desirable to women from tier two and tier three markets,”​ said Vineeta Singh, Vellvette Lifestyle CEO.

3 – Watsons reveals strategy for success in ‘vibrant’ Middle East skin care category

Health and beauty retailer Watsons says positioning itself as a ‘skin care expert’​ is key to achieving success in the Middle East market.

The company is laying the groundwork to position itself as the “skin expert” ​for beauty enthusiasts in the region.

“The Middle East has a huge potential health and beauty market with skin care category being one of the fastest-growing beauty categories. Before Watsons’ entry into the market, there was no health and beauty retailer with the breadth of skin care expertise that we can offer,” ​said Jonathan Watts, General Manager of Watsons GCC.

4 – WiZ Care eyeing expansion beyond hygiene and into skin care, make-up

Indian mass personal hygiene brand WiZ Care is set to introduce skin care​ into its product portfolio this year and is also mulling over plans to launch a range of colour cosmetics as well.

The company is set to open its second factory in April this year, which will set the company up to make its first foray into the skin care category to tap into the rising consumption of skin care in India.

In addition to skin care, WiZ Care was also considering entering the colour cosmetics market as well.

5 – Yatsen’s skin care investments offset make-up decline

Yatsen Holdings has managed to achieve growth in 2021 thanks to investments in skin care,​ which helped to offset the soft demand for colour cosmetics.

The decrease was attributable primarily to the decrease in sales from its colour cosmetics brands.

"The fourth quarter was a challenging quarter, marked by soft consumer demand and intense competition in the colour cosmetics segment,” said Huang Jinfeng, the founder, chairman and CEO of Yatsen.

However, it was partially offset by the 327.7% increase in total net revenue from its skin care brands.