"K-beauty is one of the fastest-growing categories on Amazon. We will strengthen step-by-step support to help Korean beauty brands expand globally and grow."
Hannah Shin, head of Amazon Global Selling Korea, held a media briefing at the office in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, on the 18th and said, "For the next three years, we will focus on supporting the acceleration of growth for K-beauty brands."
Amazon Global Selling is one of Amazon's key business divisions. The Korea office, Amazon Global Selling Korea, supports a long-term brand-building strategy across the entire process—from onboarding to shipping, expanding customer experience, and marketing—so that domestic sellers can effectively enter overseas markets through Amazon.
Starting this year and over the next three years, Amazon Global Selling Korea will focus on three core areas: ▲ accelerating brand growth ▲ developing trend-leading selections ▲ acquiring new customers. It plans to help domestic beauty brands grow by supporting tailored programs such as developing products suited to target countries and crafting each brand's unique narrative.
Specifically, Amazon will introduce artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to streamline sellers' product listing processes and help optimize product catalogs. It will add advertising incentive support for brands and provide dedicated account management and training workshops. It also plans to run a project to support Amazon-exclusive product launches by promoting consolidation of manufacturer, brand, and customer data.
Shin said, "Today's K-beauty trend was not created overnight. Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, domestic brands have built an environment where they can directly jump onto Amazon and sell products. Just as past efforts have produced today's results, we are looking to roll out new strategies now so the trend can continue five and 10 years from now."
According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, in the first half of this year, Korea's cosmetics exports totaled $5.5 billion (about 7.6373 trillion won), up 14.8% from a year earlier. Amid this, Amazon has established itself as a key platform for K-beauty distribution in the United States. In Amazon's U.S. store, sales of K-beauty products rose more than 70% from 2023 to last year, and as of July this year, the number of Korean beauty sellers also posted double-digit growth from a year earlier.
Currently, more than 1,200 K-beauty brands are on Amazon in the United States, selling over 20,000 products. Each year-end, Amazon has launched an "Amazon-exclusive gift set" featuring products from customers' favorite beauty brands, and for the first time, this year's five-product lineup includes K-beauty brands.
Melis del Rey, vice president overseeing the Beauty & Health category at Amazon U.S., who attended the briefing, also highlighted the K-beauty boom in the United States. "Over the past year, 19 million customers purchased K-beauty products on Amazon in the United States. During the same period, unit sales increased 70%, and K-beauty-related searches accounted for 20% of all beauty searches on Amazon," she said.
She added, "An event spotlighting K-beauty will also be held soon. More than 200 new products will be released, about 60 of which will be available only on Amazon."
K-beauty distribution via Amazon is active in Japan as well. While French and U.S. brands have traditionally been strong in Japan, Korean brands have recently been rising in both base and color cosmetics.
Yuki Suita, an executive overseeing the Beauty category at Amazon Japan, said, "Since 2023, Korea has overtaken France to become the country from which Japan imports the most cosmetics. Over the past 10 years, the K-beauty category on Amazon Japan has recorded more than a 50-fold increase in sales."
He continued, "Amazon Japan is expanding customer touchpoints through various marketing investments, such as hosting a K-beauty festival in Shibuya and collaborating with Korean influencers. We will continue to establish ourselves as an essential partner for both beauty brands and consumers in Japan."