Olive Young, a must-stop for foreign visitors to South Korea

For many foreign visitors to South Korea, a trip to the beauty retailer Olive Young is as essential as sampling kimchi or touring Gyeongbokgung Palace, as the retailer has become a magnet for global shoppers amid the global K-beauty boom.

CJ Olive Young Corp., the operator of Korea’s health and beauty retail chain, said on Tuesday that more than 26% of its offline sales in the first six months of this year came from international tourists.

This is a significant leap from the single-digit share reported during the same period of 2023.

In the second quarter alone, purchases by foreign customers accounted for more than 30% of Olive Young’s brick-and-mortar sales, crossing the 30% threshold for the first time.

According to data from the Korea Tourism Organization, South Korea welcomed over 7.2 million international visitors in the January-May period. Of those, more than 80%, or nearly 6 million, purchased at physical Olive Young stores.

The surge was driven by not only the explosive global demand for Korean skincare and cosmetics but also Olive Young’s targeted strategy to cater to foreign shoppers, the company said.

FOREIGN TOURIST-TAILORED SERVICES

It has rolled out multilingual services and enhanced customer support, like a tax refund service, across 110 stores in major tourist hubs, such as Myeongdong, Hongdae and Gangnam in Seoul, as well as select locations in Busan and Jeju Island.

The chain has also introduced personal shopping and K-beauty consulting services, which pair customers with in-store advisors who offer product recommendations tailored to skin and hair concerns, or personal color analysis.

These programs, the company says, have proved especially popular among international guests unfamiliar with the dozens of Korean beauty brands available in stores.

Looking ahead, Olive Young plans to expand such offerings to 100 locations nationwide by the end of this year, reinforcing its image as a gateway for global consumers into Korean beauty culture, the company said.

In addition to in-store growth, Olive Young also reported last week that its online cosmetics sales to overseas markets surged 70% year-over-year in the first half of this year, underscoring the brand’s widening global footprint.

Write to Solee Lee at claire@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.