K-beauty thrives in Japan with exports jumping nearly 60% on year in 2020

[Photo provided by Able C&C]

South Korean cosmetics are steadily gaining popularity in Japan, the world’s third-largest beauty market, thanks to K-pop and drama fandoms.

Korea’s cosmetics exports to Japan jumped 58.5 percent on-year to 703 billion won ($637 million) in 2020, according to the Korean trade ministry’s data on Monday. The export amount is small compared with those shipped to China and the ASEAN countries, which imported 4.2 trillion won and 833 billion won worth of Korean beauty products, respectively, last year. The export growth pace, however, was far faster. Also, Korean beauty products made the top at a number of review sites in Japan.

Korean beauty brands’ latest feat in Japan is owed largely to the Korean pop culture that has captivated Japanese consumers, especially teenagers and those in their 20s. They are found to be not affected by the latest diplomatic rows between Korea and Japan when making decisions to purchase Korean products.

In fact, more beauty retailers have been inquiring to add Korean products to their store shelves as Japanese customers who used to discriminate against Korean brands as foreign goods are now feeling indifferent about their origin, according to Kang In-kyu, head of Able C&C’s subsidiary in Japan. Able C&C is the owner of Korea’s leading budget cosmetics label Missha.

Korean cosmetics sales have been growing steadily in Japan regardless of social issues, added Uh Jae-seon, head of L&P Cosmetics’s Japanese unit.

Japanese consumers appreciate healthy natural ingredients in Korean beauty products and products’ functional aspects, said Huh Hue-young, head of Have & Be’s overseas business.

Korean beauty brands said they will continue to put great effort into improving their brand awareness through offline outlets, which are still playing a significant role in winning Japanese consumers’ trust. Able C&C focused on building a strong relationship with consumers through retail outlets by actively responding to the market’s needs, said Kang.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]