18.94 million. That's the number of foreign visitors to Korea last year, the most on record. As the influx of visitors surges, retailers are moving quickly to target them. The three leading brands known as so-called "Ol-Da-Mu" stores (Olive Young, Daiso, and Musinsa) have emerged as rising powers in retail. As so-called "Ol-Da-Mu" stores (Olive Young, Daiso, and Musinsa) expand their businesses amid foreign interest and keep up their growth, the range of products that represent Korea is gradually diversifying. This paper examines the characteristics of spaces newly entering foreign visitors' shopping routes and their expansion trends, and looks at channels being discussed as the next so-called "Ol-Da-Mu" stores (Olive Young, Daiso, and Musinsa). [Editor's note]
On the 23rd of last month in the afternoon, in front of exit 3 of Seongsu Station in Seongdong District, Seoul. Across from an Olive Young store, pharmacies with large signs were lined up. Slogans such as "GRAND OPEN" and "TAX REFUND" floated across the exterior LED displays. Most of the customers browsing in and outside the stores were foreign tourists carrying shopping bags.
The atmosphere inside was different from a typical neighborhood pharmacy. Products were arranged by function—weight management, skin elasticity, hangover relief, gut health—and notices in English, Chinese, and Japanese were posted. A pharmacist was on site, but sales leaned more toward over-the-counter medicines and health functional foods than prescription dispensing. Staff in uniforms explaining products in foreign languages also stood out.
According to related industries on the 8th, so-called "tourist-type pharmacies" targeting foreign visitors have recently increased in major commercial districts such as Seongsu-dong, Myeong-dong, and Hongdae. Foreign visitor shopping routes, once centered on fashion and beauty select shops and duty-free stores, are expanding to pharmacies. As demand continues for products related to skin care, diet, and fatigue recovery, pharmacies have emerged as a shopping channel.
Until now, pharmacies serving foreigners were concentrated in a few districts such as Gangnam—where plastic surgery and dermatology clinics are clustered—mainly for purchasing post-procedure prescriptions. But as dermatological procedures like lasers and skin boosters have become mainstream, the purchase range has broadened to include not only domestically made prescription drugs but also over-the-counter medicines and health functional foods.
In particular, so-called MD (hospital-only) products such as ointments and lotions prescribed by dermatology clinics have spread by word of mouth, and the cosmeceutical (cosmetics + pharmaceuticals) market is growing rapidly in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. As products once used for post-procedure regeneration and soothing care spread to general consumption, foreign visitors' pharmacy visits are also increasing.
There was a wide variety of over-the-counter medicines—digestive aids, headache relievers, cold medicines, wound treatment ointments—alongside health functional foods such as vitamins, probiotics, and red ginseng. As praise for Korean health functional foods pours in online, in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, such products are being discussed as potentially expanding into a second wave of "K-beauty" or K-food.
These shifts in foreign visitor demand are also reflected in the expansion strategies of Olive Young, Asung Daiso Co., and Musinsa, known as so-called "Ol-Da-Mu" stores (Olive Young, Daiso, and Musinsa). Olive Young has launched the wellness brand "Olive Better," strengthening its lineup of health functional foods and inner beauty (ingestible cosmetics). According to last year's first-half offline purchases by foreign customers, wellness sales rose more than 30%, and inner beauty sales increased 55%. For some diet, collagen, and probiotic products, sales to foreign customers surged by nearly 200%.
Musinsa is expanding its beauty category while increasing wellness offerings such as inner beauty through its affiliate 29CM. While targeting the ultra-low-priced cosmetics market with its private brand Musinsa Standard Beauty, 29CM has set up dedicated spaces in offline stores to display inner beauty products.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Tourism Data Lab, from February last year to January this year, pharmacies accounted for 59.7% of foreign medical consumption cases (by department). That far exceeds dermatology (21.8%) and plastic surgery (5.9%). In Seoul alone, pharmacies accounted for 62%, with spending concentrated in Jung District (Myeong-dong), Mapo District (Seogyo-dong), and Gangnam District (Yeoksam, Nonhyeon) in that order.