Kim Seung-hwan, CEO of Amorepacific (090430.KS), South Korea's largest cosmetics company, presented global market expansion and artificial intelligence-driven management innovation as the company's key priorities for this year.
"Last year was a meaningful year in which the strategies Amorepacific has pursued over the past several years began to bear fruit," Kim said in his opening remarks at the company's 20th annual general meeting held at Amorepacific headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday.
"We will accelerate three strategic initiatives to put business growth on a full-scale track this year," Kim said, naming global market expansion as the top priority. The company plans to ramp up business expansion across key strategic regions including North America, Europe, India, the Middle East, China, Japan and the Asia-Pacific, while strengthening digital marketing capabilities through global distribution networks and social platforms. "We will grow the scale of our business through a brand and product portfolio that can agilely respond to consumer demand in each region," he said.
The CEO also outlined plans to upgrade the company's business portfolio. "We will quickly respond to high-growth-potential categories such as derma, makeup and hair care, and expand our influence in the ultra-mass market centering on Illiyoon and Mamonde," Kim said. "We will also actively pursue challenges and new initiatives in the wellness space, including Vital Beautie and beauty devices."
Building an AI-based management system was presented as another core strategy. "We will advance our data-driven decision-making system and implement AX, or AI transformation, across the entire marketing process to improve the speed and accuracy of customer response," Kim stressed. The plan calls for strengthening internal capabilities to quickly detect and respond to changes in the business environment through research and innovation (R&I) and supply chain management (SCM) innovation in line with the AI era.
Kim also said the company would "faithfully implement our shareholder return policy to achieve mid- to long-term growth targets and build a virtuous cycle where corporate value and shareholder value grow together."
Amorepacific recorded consolidated revenue of 4.2528 trillion won ($3.1 billion) and operating profit of 335.8 billion won last year, up 9.5% and 52.3% year-on-year, respectively. "In overseas markets, growth was prominent across all global regions driven by strong performance of core brands and accelerated international expansion of new brands," Kim said. "In the domestic market, sales also increased across major channels including online, multi-brand shops and department stores."
The shareholders' meeting also approved all six agenda items as proposed, including the appointment of outside director Lee Jae-yeon and inside directors Kim Seung-hwan and Lim Woon-seob, approval of the 20th fiscal year financial statements, amendments to the articles of incorporation regarding the introduction of electronic shareholder meetings, prohibition of excluding cumulative voting, renaming of independent directors, and appointment of audit committee members, appointment of Ahn Hee-jun as an outside director serving on the audit committee, approval of the cap on directors' compensation, and approval of a plan for the disposal of treasury shares.
