Shiseido has named Singapore as the location for its newest research and development centre, cementing its expansion into the country.

The development follows Shiseido’s globalisation move last year to Singapore, when it transferred its Asian operations away from Japan in a bid to consolidate its presence in the growing market.

Speaking to Today Online, Mr Jean-Philippe Charrier, President of Shiseido Asia Pacific, said, “We are on our way to build our R&D centre in Singapore. It is our Asia hub from where we will drive regional growth. We started last year with 50 people in the regional office here and will have about 70 staff by end of this year.”

As part of the move, the company will also create a portfolio of key brands from its US and Japanese operations to develop a stronger product offering in the Asia Pacific region.

Charrier said, “To capture the growing young and middle class population in South-east Asia, we need to have a strategic brand portfolio which is positioned at different price points.
“Shiseido is famous for the high-end products which are sold in departmental stores but we are trying also to deploy a portfolio of mass products targeting more specifically the larger population in the region.”