
fibre2fibre: Japan : Beauty sales drop 1% as haircare and fragrance move up
While the sales of beauty products in Japan reached 1,421bn yen/$13.64bn (ex-factory sales ex-tax) in 2004, the Japanese Cosmetic Industry Association said its preliminary estimates suggest the market registered a decrease of 1 percent on year. Surprisingly, the haircare category shot up sales by 12.3 percent over 2003 (27.8 percent share), while skincare (44.6 percent) plastered up 1.2 percent rise. However, makeup sector was down 6 percent, representing 23.2 percent of the beauty market even as fragrance sales moved up marginally in 2003, with 1 percent growth on a turnover of 54.87bn yen/$524.9m (4percent market share).