[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Olive Young has proven its role as an 'incubator' and healthy 'growth booster' of the K-beauty industry by leading the expansion and globalization through close collaboration with domestic small and medium-sized beauty brands.

CJ Olive Young (hereinafter referred to as Olive Young) announced on the 8th that among the brands that have entered the store, the number of brands that will record over 10 billion won in annual sales in 2024 has reached 100 for the first time. It has been about 10 years since the first 10 billion won brand was created in 2013. 

Among the 10 billion club brands, 3 brands have surpassed 100 billion won in annual sales at Olive Young. The main characters are skincare brands 'Mediheal', 'Round Lab', and 'Torridon'. In particular, Torridon, which surpassed 100 billion won in annual sales in just 2 years after joining the 10 billion club, has grown by increasing its recognition as an 'Olive Young Clean Beauty' brand since entering Olive Young in 2019. It also took first place in sales among foreign tourists visiting Olive Young last year.

The top 10 brands in terms of annual sales are also filled with Korean small and medium-sized companies. They are Goodal, Numbersin, Dr. G, Round Lab, Rom&nd, Mediheal, Vanillaco, Anove, Clio, and Torridon (in alphabetical order). Among them, Dr. G was recently acquired by the French beauty company L'Oréal Group, riding the global K-beauty craze. This is a remarkable change compared to 2013, when there were only three domestic small and medium-sized brands among the top 10 brands in terms of sales.  

Olive Young has helped K-beauty brands and manufacturers grow by capturing customer needs based on big data-based analysis and market research, quickly discovering new categories that meet those needs, and creating markets that did not previously exist.

A representative example is Clean Beauty. In 2020, when the pandemic began, Olive Young was the first in the domestic distribution industry to grant Clean Beauty certification to brands that exclude harmful ingredients to the human body and are eco-friendly, fostering new brands and growing the clean beauty market.

As a result of Olive Young MD and partners discussing product planning and conducting marketing together, the sales growth rate of clean beauty brands at Olive Young in 2024 increased by 51% compared to the same period last year. The number of clean beauty certified brands also more than doubled compared to the first year. Through collaboration with Olive Young, small and medium-sized K-beauty brands were able to proactively respond to the trend of eco-friendly, vegan, and cosmetics that exclude harmful ingredients in line with the expectations of global consumers who have become more demanding after the pandemic.

In addition, Olive Young is actively fostering the Inner Beauty category, an edible cosmetics category, starting in 2023. In the existing health functional food market centered on comprehensive vitamins and slimming, Olive Young has discovered new potential needs by segmenting the lifestyles of its core consumers, the 2030 generation.

As a result of fostering product groups and brands such as collagen, glutathione, and probiotics that are in line with the Healthy Pleasure trend of maintaining a healthy daily life, Olive Young's inner beauty sales have grown by an average of 30% per year for the past two years.

◆ K-beauty and K-wellness brands that have gained global recognition through the opening of Olive Young… New entry into the 10 billion club

Last year, cosmetics exports surpassed $10 billion (KRW 14.5 trillion) for the first time ever, and Olive Young’s category development strategy is having the effect of introducing various Korean brands to foreign tourists. Starting last year, small and medium-sized K-wellness brands such as Foodology, Vivi Lab, and Lactofit were newly added to Olive Young’s popular items among tourists, which were centered on cosmetics.

In addition, Olive Young has strengthened its product curation and shopping services centered on tourists, focusing on stores in 'global tourist districts' that are mainly visited by foreign consumers. In addition to giving priority to staff who can speak foreign languages ​​and writing product names in English, it has also been conducting marketing such as providing immediate VAT refund services and discount coupons in cooperation with overseas travel agencies and card companies.

In major stores in global tourism commercial districts, dedicated stands have been set up for 20 brands selected for the 'K-Super Rookie With Young' pilot project, which supports new brands with high export potential in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. 

As shopping convenience for tourists increased, the formula 'Olive Young = K-beauty shopping mecca' spread, and naturally, the number of brands gaining overseas recognition through opening stores at Olive Young also increased rapidly. Skincare brand 'Biodence' and clean beauty brand 'Snature' rose to fame as 'Olive Young must-have shopping items' among foreign tourists, increasing sales, and last year, they joined the Olive Young 10 billion won annual sales club for the first time.

As overseas online sales also increased, the global contact points of brands entering Olive Young were expanded. The number of global members of 'Olive Young Global Mall', which can be accessed from 150 countries around the world, more than doubled last year compared to the previous year. This is the result of detailed promotions tailored to local distribution seasons such as admissions, graduations, and holidays in each country, such as the US, UK, and Japan, and strengthening product recommendations by market.   

An Olive Young official said, “K-beauty brands that are reasonably priced, functional, and trendy are getting good responses from global customers,” and added, “We will continue to discover and foster new K-beauty brands and promising K-wellness brands, as well as contribute to the global expansion of K-beauty by strengthening our global business.”