K-beauty craze sends Olive Young online sales to new heights

CJ Olive Young Corp., South Korea’s top beauty store chain, is another beneficiary of the global K-beauty surge, with its online cosmetics sales to overseas markets soaring 70% year over year in the first half of this year, fueled largely by explosive demand from the US.

The company announced on Monday that sales at Olive Young Global Mall, its e-commerce platform for foreign consumers, rose 70% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period of last year.

Over the same period, the platform’s order volumes also spiked 60%. Notably, sales during its summer sales event – a week-long promotion starting May 31 – tripled from a year ago, the company said.

The top sellers included skincare, sunscreen, face mask and toner pad products featuring natural, active ingredients, such as madecassoside, hyaluronic acid and collagen.

More than half of total sales came from the US, accounting for 40% of the overall sales increase in the first half, the company said.

Shipments to the UK also quadrupled over the same period, followed by Malaysia at 256%, Singapore at 191%, Japan at 180% and the Philippines at 138%.

EXPANSION OF GLOBAL LOGISTICS



To meet growing international demand for Korean beauty products, Olive Young earlier this month signed a memorandum of understanding with FedEx Corp. for logistics services between the US and Korea, as well as for local distribution within the US.

The franchise operator, a unit of food-to-entertainment conglomerate CJ Group, has set up a US business entity in Los Angeles to operate its first offline outlet in the US.

Olive Young said it will also enhance local logistics services in other countries.

The company has also improved the accessibility and user experience (UX) of its Global Mall to better serve international shoppers. The app now offers simplified login options via Google, Apple or LINE IDs.

Foreign visitors to Korea can join the Global Mall through self-service kiosks installed at Olive Young’s brick-and-mortar stores. About 30% of new platform members joined via these kiosks, according to the company.

The company said it will continue serving as a launchpad for small- and mid-sized Korean cosmetics companies expanding globally.

As of June, about 1,200 K-beauty brands sell their products on the Global Mall, increasing more than ninefold compared to 2019, when the platform was first launched.

Globally, CJ Olive Young primarily fulfills international orders through the Global Mall, through which it ships 20,000 types of products to more than 150 countries, with a focus on its private labels such as BioHeal BOH and WakeMake.

Write to Sookyung Seo at skseo@hankyung.com
             

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.