Shiseido Offers Early Retirement to 1,500 Employees in Japan

PARIS — Shiseido Co. Ltd. has unveiled a new business plan within which it is offering an early retirement plan to approximately 1,500 employees in Japan to help bolster group growth and profitability.

The company’s business has been hard hit by Chinese consumer pullback after Japan’s release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean and a weakened sentiment toward China’s economy in the second half. In 2023, group profits sank 35.7 percent, while sales were down 8.8 percent.

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Last November 13, after Shiseido reduced its profit guidance for 2023 on the back of a weakness in China and travel retail in its third quarter, its stock ended the day down 14.3 percent, a 16-year low.

Japan’s largest beauty company — and the fifth largest in the world — on Thursday announced what it calls “Mirai Shift Nippon 2025” as part of a process initiated last August by Shiseido president and chief operating officer Kentaro Fujiwara, who is also serving as president and chief executive officer of Shiseido Japan.

Shiseido is offering an early retirement incentive plan to about 1,500 employees in Japan, who meet specific age and tenure criteria, between April 17 and May 8. That represents about 3.7 percent of Shiseido’s employees worldwide.

The move is part of an over-arching vision. “To achieve sustainable growth, Shiseido Japan will concentrate its activities on brands, products and touchpoints with high growth potential and profitability, strengthening brand and touchpoint strategy,” the company said.

That plan has two pillars: leveraging Shiseido’s technological advantages and research-and-development capabilities to enhance consumers’ favorite brands and products, while creating new beauty categories that lasso consumers’ changing needs.

Meanwhile, Shiseido keeps homing in on its skin care know-how. In late December 2023 the company said it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire DDG Skincare Holdings, the owner of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. The purchase was viewed by Shiseido as a move to strengthen its core prestige skin care business, which involves brands Shiseido and Clé de Peau Beauté.

Also to build a more profitable foundation, the company plans to optimize efficiency regarding cost of goods sold, marketing investments and other expenses, with the intention of reducing 25 billion yen, or $166.8 million, over the next two years.

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