Basic Stance

istyle's Stance on Sustainable Societies

Creating a consumer-centered marketplace has always been istyle's vision. Based on the belief that reflecting consumer feedback in markets helps to invigorate them, we established the beauty media site @cosme as a mechanism to gather such feedback. Since that time we have implemented a wide variety of initiatives to prevent misunderstandings from arising between consumers and manufacturers. Word-of-mouth reviews posted on @cosme enable users to discover the cosmetics that best meet their needs. Additionally, manufacturers that are rated highly attract an increasing number of fans and this in turn contributes to the growth of their brands. This virtuous circle is istyle's vision for a sustainable marketplace and something that we are working to bring about.

Things weren't running so smoothly at the time of @cosme's establishment, however. Products that were met with the approval of consumers didn't necessarily make it onto retailers' shelves, because consumers at the time had few opportunities to come into contact with them. Therefore, in order to prove that placing products that consumers support on store shelves would lead to greater growth for manufacturers and retailers, we made the decision to operate our own E-commerce site and retail stores. By continuing for more than a decade to leverage our database to provide a product range centered on products that are popular on @cosme, we were able to grow into Japan's highest-earning cosmetics retailer.

Our database of consumer feedback is what lies at the core of our activities, and by developing a platform that links the database to our media sites, E-commerce, and retail stores, we hope to create a marketplace that truly reflects consumers' opinions. We hope to work toward achieving our vision by enabling ever more manufacturers, retail stores, E-commerce companies, influencers, and so on to harness our platform, which is used every month by approximately half of all young women in Japan.

Maintaining Trust is Crucial for Us to Remain in Business

Even though we have been in business for 20 years, our priority as a site handling consumer feedback in the form of user reviews remains unchanged--to be a trusted company. The public often doubts the trustworthiness of user review sites. User review sites must be fair and neutral platforms if they are to provide truly reliable information. We have therefore worked hard to ensure product rankings are not affected by advertising and have devised a framework for 24-hour surveillance to prevent manipulation and fraud. We believe these efforts have helped to build trust and have consequently helped us to earn the support and cooperation of our stakeholders. As a result, @cosme has been able to continue for 20 years.

The istyle of Tomorrow

Today istyle is aiming to become the company that everyone around the world most associates with "Beauty x IT" and we are working to expand our business overseas. As our activities spread across borders, corporate governance has become an increasingly important priority. We are thus aware of the need to further strengthen internal controls and ensure a high level of transparency in our management activities. Equally important is the support we receive from employees and partner companies. Believing that the growth and development of employees leads to increased corporate value, we will continue to focus on nurturing personnel and providing work environments that facilitate diverse workstyles.

Our goal remains the same 20 years on--creating a consumer-centered marketplace. We will contribute to the formation of sustainable societies by making our vision a reality.