Japan is still in crisis. The economic downturn makes people hard to manage. Government measures are fading, the debt burden is overwhelming. This may be a backdrop to the fact that Japanese people look for reliable and affordable products when purchasing them - as for the German cream brand Nivea.

For Japan, Japan is the newcomer to 2016. "We are growing there with a high-digit percentage. Japan will soon be our second-strongest and second-most important country after Germany, "said Beiersdorf CEO Stefan Heidenreich at the presentation of the current business figures.

However, the group does not list absolute sales figures for individual countries. And the US is still second behind the German market. However, as sales growth is significantly lower there, Japan will soon be replacing the United States. In the past five years, Nivea has consistently made good progress with other international cosmetics brands from France and the USA.

Packages are smaller in Japan than in Germany

But the business there is quite different: for example, the packs are much smaller than in Germany. Japanese households have little space in the bathrooms, which may be a reason for this. The products also differ significantly from those in Europe. So the creams and soaps contain components for so-called "whitening", so that the skin is lightened. The range of Nivea could not be compared with offers in German stores, it says in the marketing department.

Only the classic Nivea can is also found in Japanese sales shelves. Because of the strong consistency of the skin cream and the climate in the country, the blue cans are only sold in high quantities in winter. Through a cooperation with the local consumer goods group Kao, Beiersdorf entered the local market in 1971.

Europe is still the largest market with around half of Beiersdorf's consumer goods brands. However, in addition to Japan, India and countries in Latin America also grow with double-digit percentages. Here, too, there is a lot different: in Indian shops, Nivea products are offered in even smaller pack sizes and containers. Conversely, a cremedose costs maybe five or ten euro cents.

Brand Nivea is worth 4.7 billion euros

The success depends above all on the reflection on the main brand. According to current calculations by the agency The Brandticker, the value of the Nivea brand is currently EUR 4.7 billion. In the current year, the brand value has increased by seven percent according to the calculations.