Cellmid Ltd (ASX:CDY) continues its global roll-out and has now opened its first Advangen Hair Biology concept store in Tokyo, Japan.
The store, named after wholly owned consumer health subsidiary Advangen, is located in Ginza, the most prestigious and busiest shopping district in Tokyo, in the well-established Ginza Core building.
Koichiro Koike, managing director for Advangen Japan, commented:
"Advangen Hair Biology is the first specialist store solely focused on solving hair challenges with clinically validated and naturally based products.
"We hope to emulate the success of other specialist brands such as Jurlique and L’Occitane that grew rapidly on similar consumer trends."
Initially selling Advangen’s Japanese FGF5 inhibitors, including the Jo-Ju® and Lexilis® brands, the Hair Biology concept store is expected to build on the success of the JoJu® products that have been sold on the QVC television shopping channel since 2015.
This provides another opportunity for Cellmid to grow its revenues, as it has been doing with hair care products in the U.S.
Target market in Japan
Targeting the 40% of women and 50% of men over 40 with various hair loss concerns, the concept store will be advertised on QVC.
Customers will be invited to the store at the end of each Advangen shopping segment to receive a hair assessment and experience the FGF5 inhibitor products.
Specialist cosmetics retailers have been growing rapidly against the trend of otherwise contracting generalist retail.
ULTA, one of the largest cosmetics retailers in the U.S., is expected to add 100 new stores in 2018 to their existing portfolio of around 1,000 retail outlets.
Sephora, the largest specialist retailer of cosmetics operates 2,300 stores in 33 countries and it is expanding rapidly in established and emerging markets.
Both of these groups have been leaders in experiential marketing, allowing for an interactive shopping experience that is not possible through online purchase.
Their success demonstrates that customers of all ages demand to try the products before they buy in this category.
Advangen’s Hair Biology concept store is tapping into this trend with opening an experiential, consultative space for customers.
Unlike in generalist retail, customers can get a hair analysis service, followed by personalised product recommendations to solve their specific hair challenges.