Charles Beardsall talks about growing Shiseidos European foo

Despite being a household name in Asia, Shiseido remains relatively undiscovered in Europe. Charles Beardsall, the brand’s UK General Manager, talks about his plans to turn this around.

Shiseido has been around for over 140 years, yet we’ve only been here for 25 of those. We’ve got to continue creating awareness and growing naturally. We recently entered Harvey Nichols and Boots, so the focus will be on making these work and giving people new places to discover the brand.

I’ve been with Shiseido for three years and seen the brand really pick up in that time. Even though Shiseido has already been in the UK for some time, it’s always been a ‘best kept secret’. Now we’re really trying to get the brand out there. We’ve been in limited distribution – 33 department stores – so the PR effort has been really important. We’ve also really increased our staff training and are looking to lift sales by improving our stores. We’ve completed refits in several stores including John Lewis Oxford Street and opened in Harvey Nichols Manchester.

We want to show that we’re a modern brand and one that has incredible research backing. Our sales are roughly 60% skin care so we also want to make this offering more visible. One of the boom areas for us at the moment is online, via the John Lewis, House of Fraser and feelunique.com websites. In the last three years, online has grown to become our number two store, which is real proof that people are seeking out the brand.

You’ve got to continue giving great in-store service and engaging customers that way. It’s important that we continue to invest in training our consultants and not become strictly about online – it’s about striking a balance between the two. Online is a place for convenience and replenishment but in-store is really where people discover the brand.