In light of the announcement of Shiseido making the winning bid for Drunk Elephant, Beauty Packaging reached out to Euromonitor for perspective.
 
Hannah Symons, head of beauty and personal care at Euromonitor International, comments, “Shiseido is a good fit for Drunk Elephant as the company has a history of nurturing brands and priming them for global expansion, while maintaining their heritage and the very essence that made them a success in the first instance, i.e. Bare Minerals, Laura Mercier.
 
Shiseido is a skin-first company and has a world class reputation for producing high quality, effective and innovative skin care brands – Drunk Elephant fits this bill. Shiseido’s three largest markets are Japan, China and the U.S., making the company the ideal partner for a U.S.-focused brand with  a proposition that resonates well with Asia’s rising ‘skintellectual’ and skincare-obsessed consumers. As a self-professed “clean beauty” brand it will be interesting to see how together Drunk Elephant and Shiseido navigate  the stormy sea that is the “clean beauty” debate as consumers turn their back  on “cancel culture” and begin to take a more targeted, considered and  educated approach to their skincare routines.”
 
Gabriella Beckwith, beauty analyst at Euromonitor International, says, “We can expect further expansion of Drunk Elephant beyond its home market, notably Asia Pacific, whereby Shiseido can leverage its strong regional ties and abundance of resources. With Asia Pacific expected to be the fastest-growing skincare region globally, at 4% CAGR over 2019-2023, Drunk Elephant has the opportunity to blossom as Asian consumers continue to develop a greater appetite for clean beauty. For Shiseido, the acquisition is yet another step towards enlarging its global footprint, targeting a younger audience, and expanding its scope beyond J-beauty. According to Euromonitor  figures, Shiseido generated 52% of its beauty and personal care sales outside of Japan in 2013, compared to 56% in 2018.”