Industry, Academia and Government Collaborate to Formulate Cosmetics Industry Vision in Japan

1. Background

Japanese-made cosmetics are highly appreciated overseas for their outstanding performance, quality, and safety. Thanks to increasing demand from foreign tourists and expanding exports to China and other countries, Japan’s cosmetics industry has been growing over the last few years in particular, and marked a record high shipment value in 2019.
However, this demand decreased rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and domestic demand has also decreased with more people staying at home. Consequently, the Japanese cosmetics industry is facing a serious situation. Furthermore, in the medium to long term, the industry will have to respond to challenges such as Europe's increasingly strict environmental regulations on cosmetics and growing consumer awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the rise of cosmetics manufacturers in other countries such as South Korea is also intensifying global competition.
In light of this situation, METI inaugurated a Cosmetics Industry Vision Study Group consisting of members from industry, academia, and the government (and chaired by Dr. Ito Kunio, Director of Hitotsubashi University CFO Research Center) in order to further strengthen the competitiveness of the cosmetics industry in Japan and ensure that it achieves continuous development. The study group has been discussing concrete future actions that should be taken in Japan's cosmetics industry with a short- (the next 10 years) and medium- to long-term (the next 30 years) perspective. In doing so, it has also been identifying the challenges that the industry faces, and indicating a future vision industry, academia, and the government should share and aim to achieve. The results of these discussions have now been compiled as a "Cosmetics Industry Vision."

2. Key points

A new vision has been established for the cosmetics industry based on discussions by the Cosmetics Industry Vision Study Group: "Take Japan Beauty based on Japan's leading-edge technology and culture, and spread it all around the world with a view to creating an industry that contributes to people's well-being and global sustainability." To accompany this vision, seven initiatives have been formulated as directions to follow and concrete actions to take.
 

■ Directions the cosmetics industry should follow in the future

1. Achieve continuous development by shifting away from business models solely reliant on domestic demand and focusing on overseas demand, especially in fast-growing Asia.
   ⇒ Initiative 1: Shifting to a business strategy toward capturing new demand
       Initiative 2: Establishing an absolute "Japan" brand that will not be swayed by trends
       Initiative 3: Shifting to a marketing strategy based on the effective use of digital technology
       Initiative 4: Enhancing the business environment through industry-academia-government collaboration
       Initiative 5: Efforts toward further research and development

2. Create a leading industry in pursuit of a sustainable society.
   ⇒ Initiative 6: Making effective use of diverse human resources
       Initiative 7: Actively contributing to the SDGs

3. Related Materials

• Cosmetics Industry Vision (in Japanese)(PDF:4,597KB)

Division in Charge

Bio-Industry Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group
Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group