Korea's cosmetics industry is busy preparing marketing campaigns ahead of Amazon Black Friday, the United States' biggest online shopping event at the end of this month. On the back of their popularity in the U.S., K-beauty companies that posted a sharp jump in sales this year are looking to set record-high quarterly revenue again in the fourth quarter, buoyed by Black Friday.
According to related industries on the 10th, Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving in the United States (the fourth Thursday in November). Global distribution corporations, including Amazon, run the biggest discount events of the year around that day.
In particular, Amazon holds steep discounts across key categories such as fashion, beauty, household goods, and electronics for about 10 days around Black Friday under the name Black Friday Week. As purchases by consumers around the world concentrate during this period, major consumer brands treat it as a watershed for annual sales.
Ahead of Black Friday, K-beauty companies are sharply increasing shipments of products to the U.S. compared with last year. According to the Trade Statistics Information Portal (TRASS), cosmetics exports to the U.S. last month are tentatively tallied at $162 million (about 236 billion won), up 22.2% from a year earlier.
Currently, more than 1,200 K-beauty brands are on Amazon in the U.S., selling about 20,000 products. Last year, sales of K-beauty products on Amazon's U.S. store increased by more than 70% compared with 2023, and the number of Korean beauty sellers also rose by double digits from a year earlier.
Some brands ranked among the top sellers during Amazon's four-day summer flash sale, Prime Day, held July 8–11 (local time), raising expectations for the upcoming Black Friday. Prime Day is a discount event Amazon has run annually for paid members since 2015, offering the biggest deals of the year alongside Black Friday.
According to U.S. beauty marketing company Navigo, Medicube by APR took first place overall with a 9.3% revenue share in the cosmetics institutional sector during this year's Amazon Prime Day. During the same period, Laneige by Amorepacific ranked ninth with 3%, and BIODANCE, the skincare brand of Beauty Selection, ranked 10th with 2.9%.
Medicube achieved about 30 billion won in sales at this year's Prime Day, six times the previous event. Its flagship product Zero Pore Pad topped the overall beauty bestseller list as soon as the event began. Medicube Age-R's signature at-home beauty devices Booster Pro and Booster Pro Mini also took first and second place, respectively, in the "wrinkle & anti-aging devices" institutional sector.
Laneige's flagship products Lip Sleeping Mask and Lip Glowy Balm each took the top spot in the lip care and lip gloss categories. BIODANCE also saw its flagship Real Deep Mask sell more than 1.5 million sheets during Prime Day, taking first place in the face mask institutional sector, while its toner pads ranked 10th in the facial toner institutional sector.
According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), cosmetics exports in the third quarter this year stood at $8.52 billion (about 12.2 trillion won), up 15.4% from a year earlier. In step with this trend, the third-quarter results that K-beauty companies recently released also improved.
Amorepacific reported third-quarter revenue of 1.0169 trillion won and operating profit of 91.9 billion won, up 4% and 41%, respectively, from a year earlier. APR posted third-quarter results of 385.9 billion won in revenue and 96.1 billion won in operating profit, up 122% and 253%, respectively, from a year earlier. d'Alba Global recorded third-quarter revenue of 117.3 billion won and operating profit of 16.7 billion won, with revenue up 59.3% and operating profit up 18.6% from a year earlier.
A beauty industry official said, "Because U.S. consumer spending concentrates during Amazon Black Friday, there is a clear tendency for short-term sales to jump sharply," adding, "K-beauty has recently gained popularity in the U.S., and Amazon is also providing focused support for K-beauty, so brands will post strong results in this year's event."