The streets of Myeong-dong are mecca for fans of Korean cosmetics. In this commercial area of ??Seoul, all kinds of beauty shops are displayed side by side. Olive Young, Missha, Laneige, Nature Republic, Innisfree, TonyMoly, Holika Holika, Mamonde… At the front doors there are flashy signs of offers and at the foot of the street there are big bowls full of face creams and masks that can be obtained for less than 5,000 won, about three euros.
In South Korea, someone who doesn’t take care of their skin denotes negligence, even a possible disease. Especially among women, who have historically had more aesthetic pressure, although today young men also take care of their skin. “Skin care is a pillar of Korean culture. A woman’s face is the letter of introduction in society and, of course, an elementary aspect in the art of seduction. It’s even more important than the way you dress,” says Helena Kim, spokesperson for the Klairs brand. This young woman, who started her facial care routine at the age of 12, remembers how “her grandmother used to wash her face with the water resulting from boiling rice or green tea” because she “wanted to have a young face”, the great obsession of South Korean women.
The years have passed and, with time, Korean cosmetic products have become sophisticated to the point of attracting the attention of the industry abroad. “Since the last decade, the entire sector has been very dependent on the innovations of South Korean companies. They set a trend because there is a lot of investment in R&D and consumers are very demanding”, says Sara Jiménez, spokeswoman for the Beauty Cluster, a Spanish association of the beauty sector based in Barcelona.
Data on exports confirm how interest in k-beauty (Korean beauty) has skyrocketed. In Spain, the business moved 24.5 million euros in 2023, 22% more than the previous year, according to the commercial office Kotra and the Government of Spain. Worldwide exports of cosmetics and perfumery already exceed 8,000 million dollars. According to the OEC portal and Datawheel, the main consuming countries are China, Japan, the United States, Vietnam and Russia. Spain, together with the rest of the European countries, has an insignificant weight in terms of business volume, although the Beauty Cluster is convinced that there is great potential for growth. “Ten years ago Korean cosmetics were little known in Europe, but in recent years we have seen that interest has skyrocketed thanks to social networks and the popularity of Korean culture”, says Sean Kim, director of the firm Cosrx . The so-called k-wave (Korean wave) has conquered the screens with hits like Parasites and The Squid Game, and has also seduced younger people with the catchy K-pop music.
Are we talking about a passing phenomenon? The brands consulted admit they wouldn’t have made it this far without the crucial role of TikTok and Instagram, where products such as snail slime, which promises to remove acne marks, go viral. “It is not a passing fad, as we have seen how large Western cosmetic groups imitate the trends that are generated there. Not only in the formulation of the actives, also in the packaging, which stands out aesthetically, and for the more sustainable materials”, says Jiménez. Sources from Kotra, the Korean commercial office, say that “Korean cosmetic brands in Spain have gone from appearing in small stores in a very limited way to being present in almost all the large cosmetic chains with exclusive sections in physical stores and online”. Some examples of chains that incorporate Korean cosmetics into their lines are Sephora, Primor, Druni, Douglas and Perfumeria Júlia.
According to the sources consulted, Korean cosmetics have gained a foothold in the Western world thanks to the formulation of active ingredients based on natural ingredients – tea, ginger, ginseng, snail – and the constant commitment to innovation. The country, according to data from Kotra, invests 4.5% of GDP in R&D, more than twice as much as in Spain, and cosmetics is one of those responsible, although not the main one, since in the economy they have a more important weight the technology and automotive industries.
Despite the growing interest in South Korean cosmetics, not everything is a bed of roses in this business. From Miin Cosmetics, a Catalan company that has been importing these products for ten years, they explain the commercial difficulties caused by the strict regulation of the European Union. Especially in sunscreen products, say company sources. “Over the years we have gotten used to it, but it is key to comply with the legal threshold of preservatives or the limit of impurities. and it is also important to detail, with clear descriptions, elements such as allergens in cosmetics”, explains Amparo Violero, responsible for regulatory affairs at Miin.
European distributors have to trade with a powerful business ecosystem, made up of 28,015 companies, according to 2022 data from the South Korean Government, which reflect how the number has more than doubled in five years. As usual, the fabric of companies is made up of large and small companies, which produce high and low range products, but the attention is drawn to the prominence of the Amorepacific and LG groups (the same as that of televisions), which are the most relevant players in the industry. In 2022 (latest data available) revenues were 3,000 million euros, in the first case, and 2,200 million euros, in the second, and only taking into account LG’s cosmetics division. This same year South Korea’s cosmetics industry generated a turnover of 13.5 trillion won, about 9.3 billion euros, which means that these two groups controlled half of the of the sector.
This concentration of wealth would not have been possible if Amorepacific and LG were not chaebol companies, which in Korean means family-owned business conglomerate. Samsung, Hyundai, SK Telecom and dozens of other companies are also part of this privileged group. For decades they have received the support of the Government (in the form of subsidies or tax benefits), controlled by a military dictatorship – which was imposed after the armistice with North Korea in 1953 – and since the end of the eighties, by parties democracies that support a neoliberal system inspired by the United States, its great ally.
The ten main chaebols – such as LG – today represent 60% of the GDP of South Korea, an economy in full expansion that is the thirteenth largest in the world – according to the World Bank – and which for years has surpassed Spain’s (see the graph). This exponential growth is known as the “Korean miracle”, but the phenomenon would not be understood without the favors of the Korean Government to these family groups.
Today, mobile technology, microchips and the automotive industry are the drivers of this prosperous economy. Cosmetics only represent a small part, 0.81% of GDP, but everything suggests that it will become an increasingly important sector. The streets of Myeong-dong are bewildered by the sheer number of beauty product shops that promise a youthful face for life. And consumers, including Western tourists, are crazy about getting these products.
