THE WHAT? Shiseido has announced a three-year global strategic partnership with internet and technology company Tencent via its China subsidiary.

THE DETAILS Through this partnership, Shiseido will work with Tencent to build a direct-to-consumer model and strengthen its social commerce business, leveraging the Chinese tech firm’s advanced know-how of D2C platforms and consumer engagement to accelerate its group-wide digital transformation.

THE WHY? The J-beauty firm’s medium- to long-term strategy, WIN 2023 and Beyond cites ‘build a digitally driven business model and organization’ as one of its key tenets and the WeChat owner is one of the largest social media operators in China.