Prime Highlights
- K-beauty retail is diversifying beyond Olive Young as major platforms enter the cosmetics market.
- Musinsa Beauty adds luxury brand NARS, expanding its offline store presence.
Key Facts
- Coupang’s beauty platform R.LUX carries around 40 domestic and international brands.
- Off Beauty offers surplus cosmetics at discounted prices across 45 stores.
Background
K-beauty shopping is expanding well beyond Olive Young, long the dominant retail destination for domestic consumers and foreign tourists, as a wider range of platforms move into the cosmetics sector.
The country’s three largest retail platforms are all pushing into beauty. Musinsa Beauty, run by fashion giant Musinsa, is using the company’s growing offline store network to widen its beauty portfolio. Luxury makeup brand NARS recently joined the platform, adding to a lineup that already includes MAC and Miu Miu, while new dedicated stores are due to open in Hongdae and Seongsu later this year.
E-commerce giants Coupang and Kurly have also entered the race. Coupang’s beauty business, launched in 2023, became a standalone platform called R.LUX the following year and now carries around 40 brands. Kurly, kind of known for fresh food and quick delivery, launched Beauty Kurly in 2022, and now it serves products from roughly around 1,000 brands.
At the same time, offline discount platforms have also shown up. Off Beauty, run by Q&B International, sells surplus products at low prices and has expanded to 45 stores, with an overseas outlet planned in Mongolia. Daiso, known for low-cost items, is also expanding its beauty shelves.
Department stores have introduced their own beauty platforms too, including Hyundai’s Coasis, Lotte’s The Cast and Shinsegae’s Chicor.
A Musinsa Beauty official said the market had been dominated by Olive Young since two rival chains exited in 2021, but a surge of new brands was now driving demand for alternative retail channels. The official added that diversification gave brands more exposure and consumers greater choice, helping the K-beauty industry mature and sustain long-term growth.
