Strengthening the 5-Market Expansion System in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia
STEP WORLD Co., Ltd., a developer of beauty and health products, has announced a strengthening of its Asian expansion system across five major markets. By establishing a 'brand platform-type' foundation, they aim to accelerate the growth of Japanese brands globally.
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- 📰 Published: April 2, 2026 at 23:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 2, 2026 at 19:37
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 04:56 (441h 19m after Collected)
STEP WORLD Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Gen Kazama), which develops and sells beauty and health-related products, announces that it will strengthen its Asian expansion system centered on five markets: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. This will accelerate the cultivation and expansion of beauty and wellness brands originating from Japan.
In this system enhancement, the company will bolster brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing functions in major Asian markets starting from Japan, working to strengthen the foundation for continuous brand cultivation across the five markets.
Until now, based on its product planning and development functions in Japan, the company has promoted the cultivation of its own brands, digital marketing centered on WEB advertising, and the pioneering of overseas distribution channels. The company is already advancing sales in Asian markets such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Through adoption in major drugstores and distribution channels, multiple product awards (*1) and evaluations in Taiwan and Singapore at Watsons, Asia's largest drugstore chain, and the receipt of the "Best Exclusive Partner Award" (*2) by its Taiwan subsidiary (Taiwan Step World Co., Ltd.), the company has accumulated the expertise to adapt and deploy Japanese brands in each market.
With this system strengthening, the company will further solidify its "brand platform-type" business foundation, which goes beyond mere product supply to cross-functionally handle brand planning, product development, creatives, digital marketing centered on WEB ad operations, overseas sales, and local distribution. We will promote continuous brand cultivation in the Asian market.
*1: WATSONS 2025 Health and Beauty Awards - WATSONS HWB AWARDS (Uruhime Momoko S1 Serum, Yukinoue) Best Seller Award, "WATSONS Singapore HWB Awards 2025" (KAMINOWA Hair Restorer, Yukinoue), etc.
*2: "WATSONS 2025 Health and Beauty Awards - WATSONS HWB AWARDS", Award in the Derma Skin category.
Background of Strengthening the 5-Market Expansion System
In the beauty and wellness sector within the Asian market, alongside trust in Japanese quality, designing sales channels, brand expression, distribution handling, and digital customer acquisition tailored to each market are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, given the growing demand for Japanese quality and the increasing importance of cultivating brands digitally from scratch, there is a heightened need to evolve individually accumulated knowledge into a more reproducible growth foundation.
However, while many Japanese companies have excellent products, they currently handle brand cultivation and sales channel expansion overseas individually, facing challenges in growth reproducibility and expansion scale.
As our company expands from Japan to major Asian markets such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, we have accumulated and systematized know-how by cross-functionally integrating every process from brand design to ad operation and on-site sales. The purpose of this system strengthening is to utilize this knowledge not only to accelerate the growth of existing brands but also to expand into new brands and categories.
Furthermore, we will accelerate the establishment of a system that supports continuous growth by expanding specialized personnel responsible for brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing, while strengthening the organizational foundation that supports them.
Future Key Measures
- Strengthening the sales and expansion system connecting Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia
- Accelerating the growth of existing flagship brands
- Developing new brands and new categories
- Enhancing the digital customer acquisition foundation centered on WEB advertising and strengthening linkage with local distribution networks
- Expanding specialized personnel in brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing, and strengthening the organizational foundation
Representative Comment
Gen Kazama, CEO, STEP WORLD Co., Ltd.
"In the Asian market...
In this system enhancement, the company will bolster brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing functions in major Asian markets starting from Japan, working to strengthen the foundation for continuous brand cultivation across the five markets.
Until now, based on its product planning and development functions in Japan, the company has promoted the cultivation of its own brands, digital marketing centered on WEB advertising, and the pioneering of overseas distribution channels. The company is already advancing sales in Asian markets such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Through adoption in major drugstores and distribution channels, multiple product awards (*1) and evaluations in Taiwan and Singapore at Watsons, Asia's largest drugstore chain, and the receipt of the "Best Exclusive Partner Award" (*2) by its Taiwan subsidiary (Taiwan Step World Co., Ltd.), the company has accumulated the expertise to adapt and deploy Japanese brands in each market.
With this system strengthening, the company will further solidify its "brand platform-type" business foundation, which goes beyond mere product supply to cross-functionally handle brand planning, product development, creatives, digital marketing centered on WEB ad operations, overseas sales, and local distribution. We will promote continuous brand cultivation in the Asian market.
*1: WATSONS 2025 Health and Beauty Awards - WATSONS HWB AWARDS (Uruhime Momoko S1 Serum, Yukinoue) Best Seller Award, "WATSONS Singapore HWB Awards 2025" (KAMINOWA Hair Restorer, Yukinoue), etc.
*2: "WATSONS 2025 Health and Beauty Awards - WATSONS HWB AWARDS", Award in the Derma Skin category.
Background of Strengthening the 5-Market Expansion System
In the beauty and wellness sector within the Asian market, alongside trust in Japanese quality, designing sales channels, brand expression, distribution handling, and digital customer acquisition tailored to each market are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, given the growing demand for Japanese quality and the increasing importance of cultivating brands digitally from scratch, there is a heightened need to evolve individually accumulated knowledge into a more reproducible growth foundation.
However, while many Japanese companies have excellent products, they currently handle brand cultivation and sales channel expansion overseas individually, facing challenges in growth reproducibility and expansion scale.
As our company expands from Japan to major Asian markets such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, we have accumulated and systematized know-how by cross-functionally integrating every process from brand design to ad operation and on-site sales. The purpose of this system strengthening is to utilize this knowledge not only to accelerate the growth of existing brands but also to expand into new brands and categories.
Furthermore, we will accelerate the establishment of a system that supports continuous growth by expanding specialized personnel responsible for brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing, while strengthening the organizational foundation that supports them.
Future Key Measures
- Strengthening the sales and expansion system connecting Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia
- Accelerating the growth of existing flagship brands
- Developing new brands and new categories
- Enhancing the digital customer acquisition foundation centered on WEB advertising and strengthening linkage with local distribution networks
- Expanding specialized personnel in brand management, overseas operations, and digital marketing, and strengthening the organizational foundation
Representative Comment
Gen Kazama, CEO, STEP WORLD Co., Ltd.
"In the Asian market...