Voluntary Declaration of Consumer Orientation
Established: April 2018
Revised: April 2024
KOSÉ Won Award for Excellence in Consumer-Oriented Management
KOSÉ received the “2023 Consumer Affairs Agency Commissioner's Award” in the Consumer Affairs Agency’s “Excellence in Consumer-Oriented Management Awards.” This award recognizes companies for their outstanding efforts in consumer-oriented management.
Encouraged by this award, we will continue to promote consumer-oriented management and contribute to a sustainable society.
News Release: KOSÉ Won 2023 Consumer Affairs Agency Commissioner’s Award in “Excellence in Consumer-Oriented Management Awards”
I. Corporate Philosophy
Based on corporate principles such as our corporate message of “Creating Beauty in a Sustainable World,” our Statement of Purpose—“Create a culture and values embodying a distinctive beauty through a sophisticated fusion of sensuousness and intelligence”—and our “Mind to Follow the Right Path” Behavioral Charter, we strive to provide cosmetics that will meet with the greatest satisfaction from all of our customers. As a “beauty creation company,” we will contribute to solving social issues by providing cosmetics that respect the beauty of each individual and the global environment while meeting the diverse values of our customers.
Reference:Corporate Philosophy
II. Key Policies
1. President’s Message
Closer to Our Customers
KOSÉ’s founder Kozaburo Kobayashi launched his business with a boundless passion for providing cosmetic products that inspire and instill hope. He ran the company with a strong belief in creating, and delivering with a personal touch, high-quality cosmetics that customers would cherish generation after generation. That belief has held strong, despite how society and the size of the company may have changed. Both in honoring customer expectations and in providing satisfying and inspiring products, we believe that no effort should be spared. Our “closer to our customers” in-house slogan expresses every KOSÉ employee’s commitment to taking a step back from their role as sellers of products, truly seeing things from the customer’s perspective, and delivering the kind of value they expect. We will continue to offer cosmetics that provide our customers with true satisfaction and contribute to richer, fuller lives.
Kazutoshi Kobayashi
President & CEO, KOSÉ Corporation
2. Listening to Everyone's Voice and Making the Most of it
(1) Satisfying Customers with the Finest Quality
Since the establishment in 1946, our mission at KOSÉ Group has been to deliver with passion cosmetics and services of the finest quality to customers.
Because cosmetics are used directly on customers' precious skin and hair, we always place the highest priority on safety and peace of mind. This guides our efforts to develop products with a wide variety of values and ensure that the quality of every product that makes it into customers’ hands will bring satisfaction.
We strive to provide sustainable products and services, from raw material procurement to product disposal and container reuse.
Reference:Sustainability / Together with Our Customer
(2) Providing Information to Customers
The KOSÉ Group strives to provide customers with the information customers want to know in an appropriate and timely manner, not only on products and stores, but also on usage, beauty, advertising, and other information through news releases, social media, in-store displays, and other contact points. In addition, the Customer Service Center responds sincerely to customer inquiries and requests based on "listening," "empathy," "promptness," and "trust."
Reference: Main websites that provide information to customers
KOSÉ TOP
Frequently Asked Questions / Contact Us
Beauty Topics
News・IR Release
(3) Product Development and Improvement Aimed at Satisfying Customers’ and Society’s Needs
The Quality Assurance Department, which includes the Customer Service Center, takes the lead in proactively passing on feedback it receives within the Company, ensuring that the valuable feedback we receive from our customers gets translated into continually improving products and services.
The department promptly and appropriately shares customer feedback with related internal departments in the form of a monthly customer feedback report,and the information is accumulated in a feedback database that can be accessed and utilized at any time.
It also holds meetings with related departments to discuss specific suggestions for improvement from the Customer Service Center, leading to product refinements and renewals based on customer feedback.
We will continue to develop products and services with sustainability in mind, including products that are easy to use for all customers and products that are more environmentally friendly.
Reference:
Examples of Product Improvements Based on Customer Feedback
Sustainability / For the Global Environment / Product Initiatives
(4) Raising Employee Awareness
Through our groupware, employees receive messages from the President that raise employee awareness by emphasizing the importance of “closer to our customers” and providing specific examples of actions to take. As one effort to get “closer to our customers,” we call on employees to provide examples of “KOSÉ Beauty Partnership” activities aimed at realizing each department’s customer-oriented activities slogans, and these examples are then shared throughout the company.
In addition, at Maison KOSÉ, our directly managed store, we have created an environment for research and development personnel to interact directly with customers and turn customer feedback into better products and services.
3. Efforts for the Future and the Next Generation
(1) Promoting sustainability strategy
Today, the social environment surrounding us is undergoing major transformations due to globalization, changes in the demographic structure, diversification of people's needs and way of living, global warming caused by climate change, and depletion of natural resources.
From the perspective of creating new value with an eye toward a better future, we believe it is necessary to make greater use of our sensuousness and intelligence more than ever to realize a sustainable society.
The KOSÉ Group promotes the sustainability strategy to improve the future of people and the global environment, and aims to become a trusted company with a strong global presence while firmly fulfilling its responsibilities as a member of the global society.
Reference:Sustainability – Sustainability Strategy
(2) Customer Development Through the Lens of the 3Gs: Global, Gender, and Generation
At KOSÉ Group, we are working under the keyword of ”3Gs” (Global/Gender/Generation) to clearly define the expanding fields of customer development. For the “Generation,” we are promoting initiatives for the next generation to improve the quality of life of children now and in the future, such as raising awareness of the habit of skincare from childhood to nurture healthy skin and providing UV protection classes for students who play sports.
Reference:Sustainability – Together with the Community
4. Stronger Corporate Governance
At the core of the Group's management policy is "continuous management to enhance corporate value as the KOSÉ Group. "In promoting the initiative, it is essential that corporate governance functions properly. We regard corporate governance as one of the most important management issues, and have developed an organizational structure and mechanisms to ensure sound management and to maintain social credibility on an ongoing basis.
We also consider symbiosis with all stakeholders, including customers, shareholders, investors, creditors, business partners, employees, local residents, and society, as an important issue in corporate management. In order to be recognized and supported as a valuable company, we strive to enhance transparency and fairness by sincerely communicating with all stakeholders and building relationships of trust.
Reference:Corporate Governance
Voluntary Declaration of Consumer Orientation — Activities Report (Follow-up)
FY2023 Activities Report (Follow-up) (PDF:2.85MB)