CJ Olive Young bets big on North America for global expansion

Korea’s top health and beauty retailer CJ Olive Young said Wednesday it aims to land a million customers overseas with the US and Canada being the target markets. 

The firm said its online platform Olive Young Global, launched in 2019, now ships Korean beauty products to some 150 countries around the world. Over the past six months alone, sales from the platform posted an almost 20-fold surge, the firm said without offering specific figures. Membership also soared to some 300,000 users, marking 10-fold growth during the same period.

The firm added it would pour more resources into the US and Canada, its top two markets whose sales account for about 80 percent of its overseas sales. 

For now, Koreans living in the two countries make up nearly half the customers, but the firm said it aims to elevate the portion of locals to 70 percent in the coming years. 

In order to better meet local demand, the firm said it will analyze consumption patterns and offer a more tailored array of products as well as marketing strategies. 

Other strategies include spicing up reward offerings for product reviews and diversifying payment methods for different markets. 

“We want to help overseas customers have a better understanding of K-beauty products and support smaller Korean beauty companies to make inroads into overseas markets,” a company official said. 

By Ahn Ju-hee (dianahn@heraldcorp.com)