Nina Jobst
Research expert covering South Korea
Olive Young - statistics & facts
The South Korean beauty retail landscape is changing. While singular brand road shops were everywhere in the 2010s, online shopping and multi-brand stores have now taken over. One store in particular has succeeded in attracting a majority of consumers. What started as a brick-and-mortar storefront Olive Young has developed into a clear market dominance domestically and expanding global business with its online presence. It is now the health and beauty store brand with the most physical stores across the country. By developing its omnichannel shopping services like same-day delivery, virtual commerce (v-commerce), and pick-up orders, it has kept up with the shift in the retail environment.
Olive Young’s rise to the top
The first Olive Young store opened its doors as a drug store in 1999 under CJ Group, one of South Korea’s large conglomerates. Since then, the health and beauty retailer has continued to increase its influence in the market and has solidified its leading position with its heightened share in the beauty market after the COVID-19 pandemic. Olive Young emphasizes the diversity of their product range as its biggest strength. Aside from big brand names, Olive Young sells small and middle-sized brands like Clio and Roundlab, as well as their own private brands. In fact, some of their bestsellers have been from such brands. The company strives to establish these high-quality private brands to be able to stay competitive and plans to expand its product range to keep consumers coming. With opening its website for global business, it hopes to further profit from the global popularity of K-beauty.Consumers’ perspectives on the beauty market
Consumer trends in the beauty market have mostly focused on women in their twenties and thirties. Olive Young is no exception and appeals to this demographic the most, but it is not only popular among young women. The topic of male beauty has become more popular in the country, and the same age groups as in the female consumer base are the main drivers. This is reflected by men aged 20 to 39 years old accounting for 70 percent of spending on male beauty products in Olive Young. The company’s omnichannel shopping options have also eased perceived constraints felt for all consumer groups, leading to an increasing number of Olive Young’s mobile app users. With easy accessibility, an already established market dominance, and the efforts to further develop available products, Olive Young has set an example for beauty retailers to survive on an already matured market.
