TOKYO—Shiseido announced a recent three-year growth strategy because it continues to restructure and shift its focus, with the goal of becoming a significant global player within the cosmetics industry.

Individually on Friday, it reported full-year sales grew by 5.7 percent, while net profit dropped by 27.1 percent due mainly to impairment losses related to the sale of its personal care business.

For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, net profits totalled 34.2 billion yen, or $260.6 million. Operating profit for the yr was down by 53.7 percent to 46.57 billion yen.

Net sales amounted to 1.07 trillion yen. Not counting the consequences of currency translation, the corporate’s sales would have decreased by 3.9 percent.

Shiseido’s travel retail business posted strong sales growth of 35.7 percent, totaling 163.65 billion yen. This was due mainly to a pointy rise in tourist traffic as COVID-19 travel restrictions were relaxed throughout the world.

The corporate’s Americas business saw its yearly sales grow by 13.6 percent to 137.92 billion yen.

“Within the Americas business, the cosmetics market continued to grow in all categories with the normalization of economic activities resulting from the relief of COVID-19 restrictions,” Shiseido said in a release. “Nars particularly saw share gains, driven by successful recent product launches and growth in e-commerce supported by digital marketing enhancements. Sales of Shiseido remained regular on the back of strengthened promotions.”

In Shiseido’s home market, net sales fell by 8.2 percent to 237.57 billion yen. In China, the corporate’s sales decreased by 6 percent to 258.23 billion yen.

“Within the China business, we’re shifting from a growth model driven primarily by large-scale promotions to a more sustainable growth model which focuses on value-based brand and product communication tailored to consumer needs. While the market faced a major year-on-year decline during ‘Double 11,’ the most important e-commerce event in China, our annual e-commerce sales achieved growth, on the back of the expansion into major platforms and enhanced communication specializing in effect and efficacy,” Shiseido noted in its release. “Meanwhile, on the offline front, despite our efforts to boost the unique experience at brick-and-mortar stores and expand the loyal user base, sales decreased yr on yr resulting from market headwinds akin to traffic decline from lockdowns.”

Since 2021, Shiseido has been working under a medium-term strategy called “Win 2023 and Beyond,” which saw it carrying out structural reforms akin to the divestiture of its personal care business and a few makeup brands, while improving profitability in key markets akin to the Americas and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). In an effort to refocus its business on what it calls “skin beauty,” an area of the market through which it believes it has a competitive advantage, it has increased its sales ratio of those brands and products.

Now, Shiseido has announced a recent medium-term strategy for 2023 to 2025. Dubbed “Shift 2025 and Beyond,” this system will see a restructuring of the corporate’s management as a way to shift it from a defensive position to an offensive one. The primary aim of the strategy will probably be to regain the expansion of the Japan business, which in a single area that is still unachieved from the previous strategy.

“We are going to achieve core operating profit exceeding 50 billion yen within the Japan business by 2025 through fundamental reforms over a three-year period from 2023. In the course of the same period, we are going to implement reforms to enhance sustainable sales growth and profitability, aspiring to change into a private skin beauty and wellness company,” the corporate said. “We’re strengthening investment within the three priority areas of brand name, innovation, and other people, and plan to realize our core operating margin of 12 percent by 2025 and 15 percent within the plan’s final yr of 2027.”

The three key areas of focus are enhancing the group’s brand equity, repeatedly investing in innovation, and strengthening global talent and leadership. Brands that it’ll deal with include best-sellers akin to Shiseido and Cle de Eau Beauté, fragrance brands, men’s brands, and strategically developed recent brands. With the intention to speed up innovation, the corporate will invest three percent of its sales into research and development. On the talent front, it’ll spend money on various leadership programs including Shiseido Future University, based in Tokyo’s Ginza district, where the corporate was founded.

Shiseido also released its guidance for its current fiscal yr. The corporate expects its net profit to say no by 18.1 percent yr on yr to twenty-eight billion yen.

The corporate is predicting a contraction in its yearly net sales of 6.3 percent to 1 trillion yen.