This is more of a pictorial article! I was in Ginza a few days ago and whilst I was navigating my way through Ginza subway station I almost accidentally strayed into Tokyu Plaza department store. Like so many of Tokyo’s department stores and malls, Tokyu Plaza has several direct exits to the underground public transport system. On my way to the Marounochi line I saw one of the exits for Tokyu Plaza and went in; was charmed by the food places and restaurants in the basement levels and decide to explore the store further. And this is how I ended up walking around the Hands Expo Culture Mall for almost an hour, admiring arts, crafts and foods from all over Japan.
Category Archives: Retail
Retail notes from Tokyo: [Store Profile] Hands Expo Culture Mall at Tokyu Plaza, Ginza
Filed under Asia, Délicieux!, Design, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Seoul: [Brand Profile] Yuri Pibu – organic beauty from Korea
While I was in Seoul I had the opportunity to visit the marketing office of organic Korean beauty brand Yuri Pibu. Yay! I should explain that so far I had only read about Yuri Pibu’s iconic beauty products (like the famous parsley toner and artichoke serum) on various K-beauty blogs and forums.
Yuri Pibu is not retailed in Europe (yet!); in Korea the brand is sold online only and Google Translate wasn’t particularly helpful with the Korean-language website. Basically, I was intensely curious about the brand and although I’m really good at online research I was getting nowhere with Yuri Pibu.
So I was very excited when EGT Korea, the company behind Yuri Pibu, invited me to visit their office and check out the products myself. I also asked them a bunch of question about the brand, the products and Yuri Pibu’s further expansion plans. Click on the link below to read more!
Share this:
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Seoul: [Store Profile] Agarbatti DIY
I discovered this store purely by accident: I was actually walking to Gwangjang Market when I saw the sign “Coffee & Cosmetic” on the other side of the street. These are two of my favourite things; so I obviously had to go and check this out. Turns out that Agarbatti is a really cool DIY cosmetics store / garden café.
Share this:
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Seoul: [Show Report] Cosmobeauty 2017
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I am currently in Seoul. And I’m so happy to be back! The main event here was, of course, Cosmobeauty trade show which took place from 27th-29th April 2017. It was my second time at Cosmobeauty – you can read my show review about Cosmobeauty 2016 here – and it feels like it was a different trade show. Although I liked Cosmobeauty 2016 I almost prefer this year’s show – and not just because there were so many new organic beauty brands to discover!
Share this:
Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Mintel, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Beautyjagd: Organic beauty news in English (Chapters 37, 38 & 39)
Hi everyone! I just arrived in Seoul. Before I head out to visit Cosmobeauty Seoul 2017 trade show: here are the last three chapters of my translations for German organic cosmetics blog Beautyjagd.
In News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (Chapter 37), Julia talks about minimalistic face care routines; there is a new addition to her article series about historical fragrance flacons, a very detailed show review of this year’s Vivaness trade show (with a focus on mainstream organics) and all the usual organic beauty launch info from Germany and around the world.
News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (Chapter 38) includes a feature about five new organic beauty brands from Austria, Julia’s niche beauty discoveries at Vivaness trade show, a review of US brand Axiology’s new lipsticks and an extra long version of the weekly Beauty Notes with all the latest organic beauty launches.
And News and Reviews from the World of Organic Beauty (Chapter 39) features an article about Julia’s visit to Annemarie Börlind spa in Bad Teinach, a presentation of four deodorant creams from German brand Vegane Pflege, an how-to article about the Korean 7 Skin Method of face care, reviews of U brand Ilia Beauty’s new Eyeshadow Palette and Primer, and a special Beauty Notes edition from Los Angeles.
Share this:
Filed under Beautyjagd, Industry News, Retail
Cosmoprof Bologna 2017 [Show Report]
Cosmoprof Bologna 2017 finished on a high note: according to organiser BolognaFiere, 2,677 exhibitors from 69 countries and more than 250,000 visitors from 150 countries attended the fair.
2017 marked the 50th edition of the world’s biggest C&T trade show and there were several new features to celebrate the anniversary. It was my second visit to Cosmoprof Bologna; you can read my show review of Cosmoprof Bologna 2016 here.
Cosmoprof Bologna is so big that it is impossible to cover the entire trade show, even if you are there for the entire five days. I decided to skip Cosmopack and the Hair and Nail halls and instead focused on Cosmoprime (Hall 19), on Hall 21 (green and natural cosmetics) and on Halls 29, 30 and 35c which is where the country pavilions are located.
And here, roughly organised by Halls but in no particular order, are some of my favourite brand discoveries at Cosmoprof Bologna 2017!
Share this:
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Mintel, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
Vivaness 2017: [Show Report]
Well, Europe’s biggest organic beauty trade fair Vivaness and its companion show Biofach (the world’s biggest organic food show) have come and gone.
This year the two trade fairs took place from 15th to 18th February 2017 in Nuremberg. According to organisers Messe Nürnberg, more than 50.000 visitors from 134 countries visited the two trade shows. There were 2,785 organic exhibitors in total (259 of these brands/companies were at Vivaness) and this year’s Country of the Year was the host country, Germany.
As always, it was an exciting and exhausting four days! This was my fourth trade show (if you’re interested: here are the Vivaness 2014, Vivaness 2015 and Vivaness 2016 articles). And now, without further ado and in no particular order, here are my favourite brand discoveries at Vivaness 2017!
Share this:
Filed under Industry News, Mintel, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
OWN: Spring Edition 2017
Here is the PDF version of Organic & Wellness News Spring Edition 2017, which includes four articles written by me:
- A preview of Vivaness 2017 trade show (page 28)
- An overview of the Fair Trade market in Germany (page 28)
- A feature on DIY Beauty (page 1/23)
- And a look at the organic beauty market in the US (page 21).Enjoy!
Share this:
Filed under Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Taipei: Fasun [Brand Profile]
I first came across organic Taiwanese beauty brand Fasun a couple of years ago. The packaging is rather cute (also, there are not that many certified organic domestic C&T brands) and the INCI list looks interesting.
When I was in Taipei last month I finally had the opportunity to check out the brand more closely. I’m particularly interested in face care so I bought two products, a foaming facial wash and an intriguing-looking face mask. Click on the link below for more information and pics on Fasun.
Share this:
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
SPC Magazine: Cross-border e-commerce in China
Another one of my articles which appeared in the November edition of SPC Magazine: a feature on the rapidly growing e-commerce sector in mainland China, with a special focus on cross-border retail and the role of e-commerce giant Alibaba and its T-Mall group. A facinating topic.
Copyright belongs to HPCi Media/cosmeticsbusiness.com. Enjoy!
Share this:
Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 