Oral Care in Japan

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

As older consumers hold onto their teeth players look to hold onto their profits with new added-value products seen in 2019

Oral care continued to see steady growth in current value terms in 2019, despite the ageing population and the declining birth rate. Whilst many other beauty and personal care categories have been negatively impacted by the ageing population, oral care continues to see increasing demand.

Personalised products drawing focus as Sunstar launches innovative ‘Smart Concierge’ service

Another way in which companies are looking to stay ahead when it comes to oral care is increased personalisation, with this being a feature of many areas of beauty and personal care in Japan at the end of the review period. With Japan’s population shrinking manufacturers are investing in new and innovative concepts to ensure they remain relevant, with one example being Sunstar Group’s GUM Oral Care Smart Concierge service, which the company launched in November 2019.

Lion Corp leads with Nonio continuing to attract new consumers while Kao Corp tries to drum up interest with new product launches

Lion Corp continued to lead oral care in Japan in 2019, supported by the company’s long history in personal care in Japan. Towards the end of the review period, the company benefited from the strong performance of its relatively new brand Nonio, which was only launched in 2017.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

Sales of oral care are expected to grow by 1% in 2020 in 2019 constant value terms which remains unchanged from the projection made before the spread of COVID-19.

Affected products within oral care

Oral care in general is not expected to see any significant impact from COVID-19 in 2020.

Recovery and opportunities

Oral care is a mature category in Japan and with the population declining it will be hard for manufacturers and retailers to sustain anything but modest growth. There are already many innovative products available in the market making true innovation hard to find.

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