In a bid to expand its market share and grow its business in the lucrative U.S. cosmetics market, Shiseido is set to launch it long-anticipated U.S. e-commerce site in the second half of this year, followed by a similar venture in China, says the head of its international business.

Japan’s leading cosmetics company and the fourth-largest in the world has lagged behind its rivals in terms of launching its own e-commerce site, partially due to its strong dependence on retail channels in Japan, still its single biggest market.

“We have capabilities in the (Shiseido) group that we have not utilized as well as we could have,” says Carsten Fischer in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“At Shiseido we are catching up and tapping into know-how we acquired when we purchased Bare Escentuals,” he says, referring to Shiseido’s acquisition of U.S. company Bare Escentuals Inc. in 2010.

Fischer said Shiseido aimed to launch its U.S. e-commerce site in the second half of this year, then in China next year, following by the Japanese market sometime in 2012.