Page 168 - EM - Export Magazine Perfumery Edition

R R E E P P O O R R T T

well-being. Nutritional supplements, lubricants, intimate Question: How often do these niche brands restock?
washes, and lotions with or without CBD show a wide range
of possibilities in this category for brands. Furthermore,
Femcare enhances women’s health during menopause,
menstruation, and pregnancy. It also includes female sex toys.
Fermata is a Femtech brand that started selling online in 2019
and moved into retail in 2020. Their product scope includes
menstrual underwear, sex toys, and more female-related
items. The market’s response to female-specific products
seems slow. However, it is happening and shows potential Marcel-huet: Our brands restock every 3 months, and that’s
and rising demand. For example, the drugstore Matsumoto a good example of what a niche brand can offer its customers,
Kiyoshi started to place Femcare goods in its 30 stores called on top of offering the latest in technology. So whether it’s
Matsukiyo Lab in 2021 that target single households with Sodashi’s small-batch production and all-natural ingredients
beauty products. or Nescens’ stem-cell technology, our brands, as examples of
niche brands, have an offer that is exactly what many Japanese
iNsiDeR iNsiGHTs: A CONVeRsATiON consumers seek.
wiTH DOMiNiQUe MARCeL-HUeT ON THe
ADVANTAGes OF BeiNG A NiCHe BRAND Question: Do you see any changes in the Japanese beauty
Call out Quote: market landscape?
“The traditional brand-distributor relationship is dead. A relic The traditional brand-distributor relationship is dead. A relic
of the past, it is unable to deliver the value needed to sustain of the past, it is unable to deliver the value needed to sustain
today’s brands in a market such as Japan.” today’s brands in the marketplace. What do I mean by this?
Traditionally, a brand would partner with a distributor and
I sat down with Dominque Marcel-Huet, Founder & CEO of that would, in large part, be the end of the story. But today,
CLÉDASIE. Given that CLÉDASIE works with niche brands such there has to be an organisation that acts as a guardian-
as Sodashi, Nescens, and Vinésimi, I wanted to ask him what angel for all matters that affect the brand-building itself, so
he thought the challenges and opportunities were for such that the brand is built-up, as opposed to decayed. Such an
brands. organisation should take care of everything from registering

Marcel-huet: Niche brands can do things certain other big the formulas and ensuring the product’s consistency from
brands won’t. First, there’s a demand for fresh cosmetics. A batch to batch, to handling all communications, as well as
large brand might provide one year’s worth of stock and then sales-training to selecting local distributors and reporting
if the demand isn’t there, that stock will have to be destroyed. on distribution successes, failures, and needs to the brand.
Often synthetic preservatives are used because these brands This is what we do at CLÉDASIE, for example. For the more
have a 36-month shelf-life. But young or old, the Japanese luxury or high-end brands, we also oversee all aspects of
are increasingly demanding natural ingredients with none of brand ambassadorship. Because at the end of the day, the
the traditional preservatives such as parabens. They prefer a image of a brand must progress. It must be consistent in all
shorter shelf-life too such as 24 months. aspects. From packaging to brochures, to the way a product is

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