Microtrends Squared by Mark Penn & Meredith Fineman

Author:Mark Penn & Meredith Fineman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

32. KOREAN BEAUTY

If you’re on Facebook these days, you might see an unusual-looking advertisement. It all started when actress Drew Barrymore put on a beauty mask that, in just ten minutes, seemed to drop her age by 10 years. The video she recorded caused a frenzy for the product, called Hanacure. The Hanacure cosmetics mask is just one example of a Korean beauty trend that exploded in the United States. With viral fame and fans of “K-Beauty” at an all-time high, places like Sephora are booming through the successes of the newest Korean beauty mask, lip peel, and snail cream. Their top five best sellers? Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum, Son & Parker Beauty Water, Missha Time Revolution First Treatment Essence Intensive Moist, Cosrx Acne Pimple Master Patch, and Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail Cream. According to cult K-Beauty site Soko Glam, snails have never been chicer.

American women are hungrier for beauty products than ever. Companies are eager to give them what they want, and to do so in a more diverse and inclusive way than ever before. From celebrities like Rihanna and her makeup line Fenty Beauty, to Kylie Jenner and her company Kylie Cosmetics, to other influencers creating and endorsing lip palettes, face washes, and night creams, the typical American woman has started to purchase a lot more than cold cream and mascara.

The explosion of Korean Beauty in American retailers is a small example of the globalization of industries increasingly of interest to American women. It also shows the power of new cultures to influence American consumers and markets. Korean Beauty’s success outside of Korea also shows the power of the international consumer. With global standards of beauty changing, and an ability to order products from all over the world, starting a business in one country could make you an overnight success in another.

Over the past few years, South Korea has exploded as the go-to spot for beauty and skin care trends, like sheet masks that are all over Instagram and the shelves of Sephora and Bluemercury. The hashtag #sheetmask on Instagram yields over 200,000 posts, and #koreanbeauty yields nearly half a million. The sales support the frenzy, too. Exports of South Korean beauty products to Southeast Asian countries alone increased by 31.6 percent between 2012 and 2013, and surely that number has surged. The overall Korean cosmetics market—$7.3 billion—is projected to post an average of 10 percent growth each year by 2020. That’s the GDP of some countries.

The amount of money being spent around the globe on Korean beauty products is astounding. Total production and exports of Korean cosmetics increased by 8.2 percent and 61.6 percent respectively from 2015 to 2016. The graph on the previous page shows the explosion: in 2013, Korea exported only $1.3 billion in cosmetics. In 2017, it was estimated that the Korean beauty market was a $13 billion enterprise. Research firm Mintel predicts that the Korean beauty market will grow steadily through 2020.

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