Britain's major department store John Lewis signed an exclusive partnership with local K-beauty specialty distributor Skin Cupid this past April, launching a dedicated K-beauty "shop-in-shop" within its stores. After searches for Korean skincare on its online mall rose roughly 800% over the past year, the retailer newly added 20 brands including Beauty of Joseon, Medicube and Anua. Some products were configured as exclusive items sold only at John Lewis, while ingredient curation and professional consultation services were operated together to strengthen the K-beauty experience.
As major European retailers enter the competition to secure K-beauty products, the stage for K-beauty exports is also shifting beyond North America to Europe. In the past, domestic brands knocked on doors to enter local distribution networks, but recently there have been successive cases of distributors partnering with K-beauty specialty distributors or creating dedicated shelf space. It is assessed that in Europe, the home of cosmetics, K-beauty has established itself beyond a mere imported brand as core customer-drawing content and a differentiation strategy for physical stores.
According to the Korea Customs Service on the 30th, cosmetics exports to 58 countries on the European continent in the first half of this year reached $1.59623 billion (about 2.3113 trillion won), surpassing North America (the United States and Canada) at $1.57035 billion (about 2.2738 trillion won) for the first time on a half-year basis. Europe exports grew nearly twofold in two years, rising from $1.09156 billion in 2023 to $1.41256 billion in 2024 and $2.04905 billion last year.
"Because Europe is geographically and economically connected around the eurozone, securing a brand position in major countries makes it relatively easy to advance into neighboring countries," a beauty industry official said. "Based on the business operation experience and brand recognition accumulated in North America, expansion into Europe is expected to extend not only to cosmetics but also to high-value-added product categories such as beauty medical devices." Douglas, Germany's largest beauty distributor, recently operated an exclusive Beauty of Joseon pop-up store at its Düsseldorf location, presenting it as differentiating content for physical stores.
The industry assesses that K-beauty has entered a new growth stage. The analysis is that after the first generation, which grew based on the Chinese market, and the second generation, which proved brand competitiveness in the North American market, a third generation has now opened in which the growth axis expands to Europe by entering mainstream European distribution networks such as Sephora, Boots and Douglas.
Domestic companies are also accelerating their push into Europe. APR, leading with Medicube, has sequentially entered Sephora's European online mall and about 450 offline stores across 17 European countries. Starting with Amazon UK late last year, it expanded its sales countries to Germany, France, Italy and Spain, and during this year's Amazon Prime Day it ranked No. 1 in Amazon beauty searches in the UK, Spain and Italy.
Dalba Global's first-quarter European sales rose 214% from a year earlier, while its European Amazon sales increased 196%. This was thanks to expanding its sales channels to major distribution networks such as Primor in Spain and Costco in France and Spain in the first quarter of this year. "We began seriously targeting the European offline market from late last year, and in the first quarter of this year alone our distribution networks expanded rapidly, entering all of the roughly 200 Primor stores in Spain and Costco in France and Spain," a Dalba Global official said.
Goodai Global's Beauty of Joseon increased its Boots store presence in the UK from 120 locations to about 1,300, and by entering everyday-use drugstores such as Rossmann and Hebe in Poland, it is establishing itself as a brand that local consumers seek out in daily life. Amorepacific is also expanding its European brand portfolio with Aestura, Sulwhasoo, Mamonde, Primera and Illiyoon. The company's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales grew about 4.7-fold in two years, from 51.8 billion won in 2023 to 170.3 billion won last year and 241 billion won this year.
The industry sees Latin America, including Brazil, as K-beauty's next growth axis after Europe. Cosmetics exports to Latin America surpassed $200 million for the first time last year, followed by $168.06 million in the first half of this year alone. This figure exceeds the annual export amount for 2022. President Lee Jae-myung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, also recently mentioned K-beauty as a core area of economic cooperation between the two countries, emphasizing the potential for market expansion.
