The ultra-low-price K-beauty boom that began in South Korea is spreading to overseas markets. After E-Mart (139480.KS) and other large retailers moved into the sub-5,000-won cosmetics segment that Daiso built, retailers in the United States and Britain are also expanding their lineups of affordably priced K-beauty products. They are using the combination of K-beauty's rising global profile and price competitiveness as a draw to bring new shoppers into their stores.
E-Mart on the 17th launched Solucian by Holika Holika, a five-item ultra-low-price skincare line, in partnership with Holika Holika, a beauty brand owned by cosmetics company Enprani, according to industry sources. E-Mart developed and introduced the Solucian cosmetics brand with Enprani in 2014, after which Enprani ran the brand on its own. The two companies have now teamed up again after about a decade.
E-Mart has steadily expanded its lineup of beauty products priced at 5,000 won or less since introducing them in April last year. As of last month, the range covered 28 brands and about 120 products. Glow Up by Beyond, an 18-item line co-developed with LG H&H (051900.KS), has proved popular enough that cumulative sales have topped 200,000 units.
Helped by that expansion of ultra-low-price items, E-Mart's skincare sales in the January-August period rose 26.6% from a year earlier. "The success of E-Mart's beauty products comes from the fact that quality is excellent despite the ultra-low prices, thanks to collaboration with cosmetics brand companies," an E-Mart official said. "As demand grows for high-quality, ultra-low-price cosmetics, we plan to strengthen the competitiveness of our ultra-low-price beauty lineup by combining E-Mart's distribution strength with the development and manufacturing know-how of cosmetics brands."
Daiso served as the catalyst for the growth of the domestic ultra-low-price beauty market. Daiso teamed up with Nature Republic in 2022 to launch an exclusive brand, Sikmulwon, and the following year introduced VT Cosmetics' Reedle Shot. After Reedle Shot repeatedly sold out on strong consumer response, Daiso accelerated its expansion by adding more beauty brands to its shelves. Sales in Daiso's beauty category rose 85% in 2023 from a year earlier, followed by growth of 144% in 2024 and 70% last year. Sales in the January-August period this year also increased 30% from a year earlier.
The spread of ultra-low-price K-beauty is also visible in overseas retail markets. Primark, the British discount fashion retailer, is a prime example. According to foreign news reports, Primark sells K-beauty products made in South Korea, including moisturizers and sheet masks, mostly for 0.75 to 5 pounds (about 1,400 to 9,000 won) under its private-label beauty brand PS.... Early this month, it also unveiled a "K-Beauty Mini Mart" in partnership with Pure Seoul, a specialist K-beauty distributor, bringing together secondary-brand products from Korean beauty companies including Neopharm, Cell Fusion C, Sungbun Editor and The Saem. Some of those brands are also sold at Daiso. Primark set prices for most of these products at 10 pounds or less, easing the cost burden on consumers compared with existing K-beauty specialty channels.
In the United States, discount retailer Five Below is expanding K-beauty into a standalone product category. It has set up a separate "K-Beauty" menu within the beauty section of its official online store, where it currently sells about 80 products, presenting K-beauty as a category in its own right rather than lumping it in with general cosmetics.
Retailers are building up their low-price K-beauty ranges because the products let them emphasize the latest trends and product differentiation at the same time. Cosmetics also have a relatively short repurchase cycle compared with other categories, making them useful for encouraging repeat store visits. "K-beauty, which has raised its profile in the global market, has been combined with the price competitiveness of discount retailers," a beauty industry official said. "K-beauty is expanding its presence from department stores such as France's Galeries Lafayette to Sephora and Ulta Beauty in the United States, and now to discount retail channels."
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