SK-II Secret Key House - Entrance
This July, SK-II launched Secret Key House in Tokyo, an immersive, experiential skincare pop-up that engaged shoppers to discover the brand’s key ingredient, Pitera. GTR Magazine speaks with Sue Kyung Lee, CEO Global SK-II, on the importance of the pop-up and about making an appearance as part of the company’s exhibition stand at the TFWA WE in Cannes.
GTR Magazine: We’ve seen how beauty brand houses are investing again in brand activations that promote more personalization tools as part of the retail experience. What’s your personalization strategy for travel retail?
Sue Kyung Lee, CEO Global SK-II: Personalization is essential to SK-II. Consumers have higher and higher expectations towards brands, and as a global prestige skincare brand, we need to go above and beyond the minimum service requirements by bringing SK-II’s signature “Omotenashi” service as a skincare expert to all our services and experiences for consumers.
At SK-II, we believe in having the deepest understanding of our consumer and serving her better than anyone else. Our personalization strategy has always been to constantly listen and engage her with irresistibly superior product innovations and experiences across all omnichannel touchpoints, with Pitera — SK-II’s exclusive skincare ingredient — at the heart of it all.
SK-II Secret Key House - Power of PITERA
GTRMag: Premiumization is a key trend in the beauty/skincare category – how do you plan to capitalize on this trend?
SKL: Consumers are increasingly discerning and more willing to invest in premium skincare. As a global prestige brand, we continuously innovate to bring superior products and experiences with Pitera to our consumers based on a deep understanding of their needs and wants. Every product from SK-II is manufactured to the highest quality standards, and our most exclusive skincare line, the LXP Ultimate Perfecting Series, epitomizes the ultimate pursuit of perfection. It achieves the pinnacle of skin beauty by unlocking the highest concentration of Pitera with the highest level of craftsmanship.
GTRMag: Tell me about your recent collection launches for travel retail and what is coming up for Cannes? Where do you see the most growth in terms of product launches?
SKL: We recently launched our newest anti-aging innovation, Skinpower Advanced Cream. At the World Congress of Dermatology in July we presented a groundbreaking insight that the aging trigger factor “AT-0” accelerates signs of aging via a chain reaction as early as [in a person’s] 20s. The findings showed that Pitera was able to reduce “AT-0” and prevent the aging chain reaction to keep skin looking youthful, which paved the way for the Skinpower Advanced Cream.
The anti-aging category continues to see growth as research increasingly shows that skin aging occurs earlier than most consumers may imagine. Skin aging is a significant focus for SK-II’s research and development efforts, and our findings will continue to inform the development of our new products.
SK-II Secret Key House - Facial Treatment Essence
GTRMag: How do you think traveler expectations for travel retail skincare products have changed in Asia post-pandemic?
SKL: In the past year, we’ve conducted extensive research involving over 1,000 women. The one thing they kept talking to us was about is how their lives are changing. They have more choices and more freedom to choose, especially post pandemic as they start to travel again. They love choices but there is a consequence of these choices—and we call it the Weight of Choice.
Our new shopper weighs all variables of the choices to ensure she’s making the best choice and has even higher expectations for information, how she makes her investment, and the quality of her interaction.
Seven out of 10 consumers create a list before shopping — this hasn’t changed. But what has changed is that post pandemic, the shopper prides herself on being smarter and savvier in planning, with extensive research and spending more time on more platforms. At minimum, she now spends 10 hours across 4-5 social channels and 20 minutes in store to make less impulsive shopping decisions when traveling. She looks out specially for big and popular brands and products.
That being said, 8 out of 10 consumers are open to buying more in-trip. She is looking to invest in things she cannot get domestically, and she is willing to invest more and even on more premium products.
Finally, she has high expectations of interaction in travel. To quote, she “wants to feel like a little fairy in paradise. The beauty consultant should be able to anticipate my needs.” For stores and brands that can meet her expectations, 9 out of 10 consumers actually end up buying more than planned.
GTRMag: What is the inspiration and ideation behind the SK-II Secret Key House?
SKL: The inspiration behind the Secret Key House began with Pitera, our exclusive and iconic ingredient at the heart of our brand. You may be familiar with the birth of SK-II with Pitera. During a chance encounter in a sake brewery, a group of scientists observed that the fermentation process made the hands of aged sake brewers extraordinarily soft and youthful. Over years of research, the scientists unlocked one single yeast strain that held the secret to crystal clear skin. This was how Pitera was born, a precious gift that’s naturally derived and truly one of a kind. It cannot be achieved artificially or synthetically.
Last year, we celebrated SK-II’s first ever World Pitera Day, which marked the start of telling the full story of Pitera to consumers, media and influencer partners. We received a great response – World Pitera Day increased search volume for Pitera by a double-digit and more than doubled positive sentiment about SK-II from the previous year, so we knew that we were on the right track.
So this year, we extended this to World Pitera Month. As part of this extended celebration, we handed our consumers and fans the keys to unlock some of our brand’s best-kept secrets in our first ever SK-II Secret Key House and continue their skin transformation journey with Pitera, the Secret Key to Crystal Clear Skin.
