The "beauty race" among domestic e-commerce platforms is intensifying. As some platforms that moved early into beauty posted visible results in terms of transaction amount, a range of platforms—from fashion to food and delivery—are strategically strengthening their beauty businesses and appear to be adopting it as a shared growth formula. Each platform is also accelerating moves to create PB (private brand) products, which are more profitable.
According to related industries on the 28th, last year Musinsa Beauty's transaction amount rose more than 50% from a year earlier. In particular, the transaction amount last year for Musinsa's four PBs (Musinsa Standard Beauty, Odd Type, Wichi, Notherup) increased 120% year over year.
Women's fashion platform ably also saw its daily transaction amount during the "Ably Beauty Festa" (ABF), held from the 12th to the 20th of this month, surge as much as 234% from a year earlier. During ABF, the combined same-day transaction amount of companies participating in ably's live broadcasts increased up to 380% compared with the combined daily average transaction amount of the previous week (Jan. 5–11).
Kurly likewise found success with "Kurly Beauty Festa 2025," held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in the fourth quarter of last year, drawing a cumulative 16,000 visitors. A total of 60 partners took part during the period, and their brands' transaction amounts increased an average ninefold from a year earlier.
As the results of platforms expanding into beauty become visible, incumbents are upgrading their businesses while latecomers are speeding up the expansion of beauty categories. Musinsa will establish Musinsa Beauty's first permanent offline store inside "Musinsa Megastore Seongsu," a massive select shop set to open in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, in the second quarter this year. Brands slated to enter already number around 800.
Musinsa plans to use the brand awareness and product competitiveness its partner brands have built up in Korea to expand sales channels to overseas online and offline outlets. To strengthen PB expertise, Musinsa also signed a business agreement in September last year with COSMAX, a cosmetics ODM (research, development and production) company.
Ably has recently applied for related trademarks such as "Bybly," "Twikin," and "Twikit," preparing to launch PB products within this year. More than 50% of ably users are in their teens and 20s, and the company plans to create products targeting this core consumer base. Ably also plans to establish a "PB exclusive section" within the platform to gather PB products in one place.
Kurly also plans to launch its first beauty PB products in the first half of this year. To that end, in October last year Kurly carried out hiring for Beauty Kurly, recruiting in double-digit numbers for roles such as beauty merchandisers (MDs) and PB product planning.
Kakao Style's Zigzag will introduce an onboarding-linked beauty brand incubating program this year to strengthen category competitiveness, focusing on small and indie brands. It will carefully select about 10 brands, provide consulting from strategy development to marketing execution, and build a structure in which the platform and brands grow together.
Baemin also recently added a "Beauty" category to the "Grocery shopping/Shopping home" screen in its app, strengthening its beauty segment. Previously, some beauty products in the Baemin app were included under the "Pet/Home/Fashion" category, but considering growth potential, the company chose a strategy of placing beauty in a top-level category. In fact, the number of beauty-related orders in the Baemin app last year increased 12.5% from a year earlier.
Baemin offers a quick commerce service that delivers beauty products within one hour of ordering. The Baemin app currently carries products from well-known beauty brands such as Aritaum and Lush, along with a variety of indie brands.
A key reason platforms are focusing on beauty is the category's characteristically high margins. According to industry sources, cosmetics have a low cost of goods sold ratio—20% to 30% of total sales. Their relatively long shelf life reduces storage and inventory burdens, and high repeat purchase rates create a strong lock-in effect that keeps customers on the platform.
An industry official said, "Beauty is no longer the exclusive property of certain platforms; it has become a core category that the platform industry as a whole is collectively interested in," adding, "How each platform interprets beauty and weaves it into the customer experience will determine mid- to long-term competitiveness."