MessagefromCEO

Creating and developing a more vibrant beauty industry

I am Hidenori Sakashita, and I was appointed President & CEO as of January, 2024.
After being appointed President of Milbon USA in 2010, I worked tirelessly for more than seven years building the foundations of our global business. Upon my return to Japan, I was put in charge of Corporate Strategy, drafting medium-term business plans to create a new beauty industry, as well as being involved in new business domains including digital transformation. As President & CEO of Milbon, I will leverage this experience to further develop the beauty industry and contribute to the realization of an enriched society through beauty.

As a global professional manufacturer specializing exclusively in products for hair salons, Milbon has achieved sustainable growth since our public listing in 2000, with sales increasing every fiscal year except for FY2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the market in Japan. Currently, under our most recent five-year medium-term business plan, which commenced in FY2022, we are focusing on a Salon-based Social Innovation in our domestic market of Japan, which aims to transform the nature of hair salons, as well as a major global strategy of establishing R&D, manufacturing, logistics, sales, and HR platforms in each of our defined Seven Regions around the world, with the aim of becoming the “leading manufacturer in Asia and top 5 in the world.”

We are already achieving results and market position in East Asia, in particular in South Korea and China, and sales outside Japan reached more than 20% of total consolidated sales in FY2022. With respect to Europe and North America, we are expecting the next 10 years to be a critical period for full-scale growth. We are charting a path to expand our market share in haircare products in general, starting with hair color products, leveraging our strength in the haircare domain.

Looking at our domestic market of Japan, the beauty market, which has seen continued growth due to an increase in the number of employed individuals, is now facing a challenging market environment due to the accelerated decline in population. However, by continuing to enhance the added value in our foundational hair business and fully leveraging the characteristics and potential of salon spacesーsuch as face-to-face communication, repeated and periodic visits, and extended staysーthrough integration with digital technology and expansion into other fields, creating a more prosperous beauty market is certainly not impossible.

In fact, the number of registered users of milbon:iD, our official online store that began full-scale operation in 2020, has reached 650,000 people as of the end of 2023. This result means we expect to reach our initial target of 1 million users in 2026 ahead of schedule. Based on this EC business, our Smart Salons provide a new beauty experience with the assistance of digital technology. It has expanded to 20 salons nationwide in Japan in just the first year after the platform’s launch in 2023, thanks to support from hair salons and achievement of tangible results, thereby beginning to make the creation of a new market a reality. Additionally, by taking on the challenge of expanding into the skin care and beauty health care fields, we will transform salons into Beauty Platforms that are indispensable to a sustainable society, and create a new pillar for increasing sales and profits beyond hair services.

Becoming the world’s No. 1 professional haircare manufacturer is another waypoint to “Building a Solid Company that Won’t Collapse”

Beyond becoming the leading professional haircare manufacturer in Asia, we are aiming to become the leader worldwide. However, these goals are merely milestones for Milbon. The most important thing is to ensure that we are completely aligned with the needs of the hair professionals and salons in each country and region and gain their highest approval rating, so that we can fulfil our social mission of “Building a Solid Company that Won’t Collapse.” By doing so, I believe we will naturally achieve our goal of becoming No 1. in the world.

Living one’s own beautiful life.
This desire has always been, and will continue to be, a universal desire the world over. Under our corporate slogan of “Find Your Beauty,” Milbon will continue to work with hair salons to create a future where people can live their own fulfilling and enriched lives.

I am committed to continuing to take on the challenge of meeting the expectations of all Milbon’s stakeholders, and as such I look forward to your continued support and encouragement.