Beauty conglomerate Shiseido has signed a three year partnership deal with one of China’s largest digital multinationals to boost its digital assets in the country.
Tencent, the biggest gaming company in the world, has been charged with building the beauty owner’s D2C model in China and ramping up its social commerce business to provide new services to consumers across the region.
Shiseido plans to strengthen its global reach with the digital transformation.
‘Build a digitally driven business model and organisation’ is one of Shiseido’s core targets under its ‘Win 2023 and Beyond’ strategy, which has been leading most of the company’s business decisions in recent years.
As part of the plan, Shiseido sold off its bareMinerals, Buxom and Laura Mercier brands in a bid to strengthen its portfolio with brands that support its competitiveness in the market.
Shiseido, however, is gearing up for new takeover efforts in the US and Europe, moving beyond its traditional regions in Asia.
The company’s boss, Masahiko Uotani, also signalled that cosmetics brands in India and Africa could appeal for investment.
Established in 1998, and the runner of WeChat, which garners around 1.3 billion active monthly users in 2020, Tencent reported total revenues of US$22bn for Q3, ended 30 September, a 13% increase on its 2020 results.
At the end of 2020, the business recorded almost 86,000 employees worldwide.
