[Musings] Olive Young's Brand, Round A'Round, Aims for Japanese Suncare Market

[COSMETICS DESIGN ASIA] I know I've laid this out like a normal news post, but I can't repeat/summarize anything here without getting into it. Please read the article if you just want news and skip the "yelling at cloud" part.

Round A'Round has "detailed its aspirations to become a leading sun care brand in Japan on the back of it's popular sun stick".

I just can't. Seriously? With brands like Allie, Anessa, and Biore...you want to be a leader in the sunscreen market on their turf? Yeah...🙄

I get you're riding the KBeauty popularity train into Japan but seriously. Round A'Round isn't even the most popular KBeauty brand on social media, so if your plan is targeting the teens to early-20s who are likely on the Hallyu Hype...you're not it. Also, your sunscreen stick is a Kolmar product and you want to take on these major sunscreen brands that do their own R&D and each has some of the best sunscreen tech in Asia? okay. Time to see how Kolmar stacks up I guess.

 Pulled from Olive Young

I fully admit this is me being completely bitter at how un-tenacious Hera's UV Protector Multi-Defense was. And if AmorePacific couldn't get it right...

The article goes through this whole thing about how the Japanese beauty market is bigger than Korea's by three times, but suncare purchase is only one third of Korea's and I just...🤦🏻‍♀️A lot of Japanese sunscreens are designed to be tenacious. Both Allie and Anessa advertise tech that work with your sebum to increase effectiveness, so the whole reapply after 2 hours is usually excessive for them (for normal day to day wear). 

I'm sure Olive Young has data I'm not privy to, and I'm not as well-versed in the Japanese market trends. But at the very least as an import brand, you are going to have to increase your price compared to your domestic price and compete against these Japanese sunscreens that don't suffer any sort of import fees and taxes, right? So what is the value-added for me as your Japanese consumer? 

"This year we plan to introduce Round A'Round to the market as a relatively rare stick-type product in the Japanese sun care market".

Relatively rare. My friend...the disrespect in Shiseido's own back yard. I cannot.

The above was published on Live Japan in 2021