Fashion Firms and Convenience Stores Enter the Fierce Battle for the K-Beauty Market

[Anchor]

In the heart of Hongdae, Seoul, bustling with foreign tourists, South Korea's largest fashion platform has opened a standalone cosmetics store. As the K-beauty craze intensifies, not only fashion companies but also convenience stores and food delivery platforms are jumping into the cosmetics market.

Jeong Seong-jin reports.

[Reporter]

Long lines formed in front of the store even before it opened.

This is the first standalone beauty and cosmetics store opened near Hongdae in Seoul by the fashion platform Musinsa.

[Kim Da-kyung / Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul: I heard the opening day promotions are the best, so I came out to check out the discounts and look around.]

The store highlights two main differentiators: small indie brands with a strong sense of individuality making up 70 percent of its offerings, and so-called pharmacy beauty products developed in collaboration with pharmacists.

[Park Jung-ah / Gangnam-gu, Seoul: I have high expectations that more specialized beauty products recommended by a pharmacist will be more effective.]

Behind the online fashion platform's move to open an offline cosmetics store is the rapidly growing K-beauty market.

Cosmetics exports last year reached 11.4 billion dollars, surpassing the United States to rank second in the world.

Exports also reached 1.31 billion dollars last month, surging 52 percent from a year ago and continuing an all-time high trend.

K-beauty consumption by foreigners visiting South Korea is also soaring.

As of August this year, one-third of CJ OliveYoung's offline sales came from foreigners, with cumulative purchases surpassing 1 trillion won, reaching the milestone three months faster than last year.

[Du Dream / Thai Tourist: South Korea is really beautiful and there are so many cosmetics. K-beauty products are very practical, and the colors are really cute and pretty.]

Other retail companies are also expanding their territory into the beauty market.

Kurly, which started as a fresh food delivery platform, is expanding its beauty business by leveraging its delivery strengths, while convenience store CU offers small-capacity, cost-effective products, and Daiso operates beauty corners featuring competitive pricing.

As K-beauty establishes itself as a new growth engine, competition among retailers to capture consumers is becoming even more fierce.

(Camera: Kang Dong-chul | Video Editing: Choi Hye-young | Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.