It was my first trip to Shanghai and my first visit to China Beauty Expo. The trade fair was immense, chaotic and exhausting (as trade shows tend to be!) but also very interesting; mostly because I don’t know many Chinese brands so there was plenty to discover – after all, China Beauty Expo is one of the biggest C&T trade shows in mainland China. Click on the link below for a detailed show review with over 100 high-res pics!
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
From 15th-17th May 2017 Beautyworld Japan took place in Tokyo, Japan. It was my first visit to Beautyworld Japan and my second Japanese C&T trade show – click here to read my show report of CosmeTokyo 2014.
According to organisers Messe Frankfurt, the 20th edition of Beautyworld Japan was a success: 634 exhibitors from 16 countries and regions presented themselves and their brands at the show. The majority of exhibitors – 526 – came from Japan, the rest were from overseas. And a total of 72,594 visitors attended the trade fair at Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre.
Click on the link below to read more about Beautyworld Japan 2017!
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Well, the 21st edition of Asia’s biggest beauty trade show has come and gone. Cosmoprof Asia 2016 took place from 15th to 18th November 2016.
This year, organisers UBM BolognaFiere had divided the trade show into two sections: Ingredients, Machinery/Equipment, Pack & OEM took place from 15th-17th November at AsiaWorld-Expo; Cosmetics & Toiletries, Salon Beauty, Hair & Nails was at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre from 16th-18th November.
Since my focus is retail cosmetics I spent the entire trade show at HKCEC. And like Cosmoprof Asia 2014 and Cosmoprof Asia 2015, Cosmoprof Asia 2016 turned out to be a fabulous show: I discovered interesting new beauty brands and met up with many familiar faces – it was an exciting (and exhausting!) three days.
Click on the link below for some of my favourite brand discoveries!
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Exhibitions, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
A few days ago I was walking through drugstore retailer Ainz & Tulpe’s Harajuku store when the fabulous retro-looking packaging of Ueba Esou’s Gofun nail polish range caught my eye. That very same day, in a different part of Tokyo, I saw Gofun again; this time in a store selling traditional Japanese handicrafts. Besides the Gofun polishes, the store also carries Ueba Esou’s hand cream range – less retro-looking but equally charming. I started to research the brand and guess what – Ueba Esou isn’t a cosmetics company at all: they are a Kyoto-based manufacturer of traditional Japanese artist paints.
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
I was walking around Shibuya today (my must-visit stores in this area include Cosmekitchen in Hikarie department store, the big Tokyu Hands and, of course, design depato Loft Shibuya!) and saw this interesting example of gender-specific retail: Its’ Demo is a fashion/beauty store chain aimed at an exclusively female demographic.
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
And here is the PDF article of my Cosmoprof Asia 2015 show report for SPC Magazine (SPC Magazine, February 2016 (Vol 89 No 2); copyright: HPCi Media). You can also find the article on www.cosmeticsbusiness.com. Enjoy!
Filed under cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
The last stop on my Asian tour was Hong Kong – and the big event here was, of course, Cosmoprof Asia! Not only is it the most important C&T trade show for the entire Asian region but the fair also celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015. Congratulations!
The official trade show stats for 2015 speak for themselves: there were 2,504 exhibitors from 46 countries which marks an increase of 6% compared to 2014. A total of 63,241 visitors from 119 countries attended the trade show (+ 5.5%) and there was a 7% increase in visitors from outside the Hong Kong area (including me!).
And here are some more facts and figures: there were 22 country and group pavilions (Korea was the biggest exhibitor and Chile attended for the first time), total exhibition space grew 3% to over 84,000 sq m and Italy and the US were the countries of honour because of their continued support of Cosmoprof Asia.
At the official Cosmoprof Asia press conference, organizers UBM and BolognaFiere also announced the following news: because the trade fair has grown so much over the last few years, the 2016 edition will take place in two different venues.
Cosmetics, Salon, Hair, Nails & Accessories will remain in the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre; Packaging, Ingredients, Equipment, Private Label etc. will move to Asiaworld Expo. The 2016 fair dates are 15th to 17th November for Asiaworld Expo and 16th to 18th November for the Convention Centre which means that there is an extra day for visitors who want to take in both parts of the show.
But all of that is still in the future; join me now for a tour around Cosmoprof Asia 2015 featuring, in no particular order, some of my favourite brands and companies from across the world. By the way: this article is even longer than my usual trade show reports – you have been warned!
Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Events, Industry News, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel
Another interesting store which Julia from Beautyjagd and I visited last week was Beauty Library in Omotesando, just off Aoyama-dori street. Beauty Library opened in June 2015 and is run by Japanese beauty company Nature’s Way.
The retail concept for Beauty Library was created by renowned Japanese design agency Nendo: a concept store presenting organic and natural cosmetics like library information, with an attached café serving healthy foods and beverages.
And Beauty Library is indeed a beautiful store with a generous glass-fronted entrance, plenty of light and free-standing wooden product shelves that really do look a bit like library shelves.
Filed under Asia, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
I arrived in Tokyo a couple of days ago and it’s lovely to be back! It’s also turning into a busy week again: Tokyo Design Week starts in a few days – look out for a show review soon! – and I’ve already started to check out my favourite beauty stores to see what’s been happening in the last six months.
My friend Julia from organic blog Beautyjagd is also in Tokyo at the moment and she suggested we visit the new Ainz & Tulpe drugstore across from the East Exit of Shinjuku Station. Which is what we did – and what a fabulous store it turned out to be!
During my last visit in Tokyo I had checked out a couple of smaller Ainz & Tulpe outlets in Shinjuku and Shibuya. Yes, I did notice the difference to the traditional Japanese drugstore retailers like Sun Drug, Matsumoto Kiyoshi etc. – Ainz & Tulpe stores are much more stylish with good product presentation and a modern store layout – but other than that the chain didn’t leave a lasting impression.
However, the chain’s new Shinjuku store is in a different league altogether. It was opened in July 2015 and is quite spectacular – three floors with a total retail space of 1,290 sq m. Located opposite the East Exit of Shinjuku station, close to Lumine Est department store, Ainz & Tulpe’s new Tokyo flagship offers a fabulous selection of Japanese and international beauty brands, gadgets, fragrances and something that I’ve only seen at Tokyu Hands so far: regional cosmetics from Japan. Click on the link below for a pictorial tour of the store and more info on the Ainz & Tulpe chain.
Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
If you’re interested in organic cosmetics, a visit to Cosmekitchen (Mash Beauty Lab) is practically mandatory. It is Japan’s biggest organic beauty store chain: the first Cosmekitchen store opened in 2004 and the company currently operates 30 outlets across Japan. The majority of the stores are in the Kanto area on Honshu island.
Although the organic beauty market in Japan is growing constantly, I think it is still primarily an urban trend – I noticed that Cosmekitchen stores seem to be mostly located in larger cities. The retailer’s outlets are usually shop-in-shop areas that are based in department stores; in Tokyo, for example, five of the Cosmekitchens are situated in outlets of the Lumine department store chain.
