CJ Group will expand local investment with a goal of 12 trillion won in North American sales in 2028. While it has targeted the U.S. market with content and food, it is nurturing CJ Olive Young, which oversees the fast-growing beauty business, as a new growth pillar. Chairman Lee Jay-hyun of CJ Group also visited Olive Young's U.S. business site again after three months.
On the morning of the 15th (local time), the chairman visited "Olive Young Festa LA," held at the Los Angeles (LA) Convention Center in California. It was three months after visiting Olive Young's first U.S. store, the Olive Young Pasadena store, in May. Lee Seon-jeong, CEO of Olive Young, and Shin Hyeong-kwan, head of the music content division at CJ ENM, accompanied the visit.
Earlier that day, CJ executives announced a North American investment plan and emphasized the growth trajectory of the beauty business. Heo Min-heoi, CEO of CJ Corp., said, "K-culture is now expanding beyond content to the very life of eating and applying." Kim Jin-sik, head of CJ America, said, "Food and beauty are growing rapidly, and beauty in particular is growing fast," adding, "The U.S. export scale of the domestic beauty industry is about $2 billion (about 2.837 trillion won), reaching a level comparable to food."
As the K-beauty market draws attention, Olive Young's status within CJ Group continues to rise. Boosted by online mall growth and increased foreign demand, it has emerged as a core affiliate of the group, and first-half sales this year exceeded 3 trillion won for the first time. Going forward, it plans to fully target the U.S. market to further scale up the beauty business.
At the Olive Young Pasadena store visited on the 14th, customers kept coming from the morning. The store is about 800㎡ (240 pyeong) and sells more than 5,000 products from over 400 domestic and overseas brands. The daily average number of visitors is over 1,500, and non-Asian customers account for more than half.
The store itself was not much different from Olive Young locations in Korea, but the contrast was clear when compared with the nearby Sephora. Colorado Boulevard, where the Pasadena store is located, is an upscale commercial district lined with street-front stores such as Apple, Aesop, Vuori, and J.Crew. Sephora, the largest beauty select shop in the United States, is less than a block away.
Unlike Sephora, which has a high share of makeup, color cosmetics, and global premium brands, Olive Young put skincare and small to mid-sized K-beauty brands front and center. A quarter of the store is stocked with skincare products, and K-beauty specialty items such as sun care and sheet masks are displayed separately. It also strengthened product information and trial elements by guiding product features and usage and setting up areas where customers can try products themselves.
Brooke and Julia, who visited Olive Young in Korea two years ago, said they heard during their LA trip that a U.S. store had opened and arrived at opening time. Brooke said, "Sephora has a lot of color cosmetics, while Olive Young has a much wider variety of basic skincare products," adding, "There's also more detailed information on what products to use and how to use them."
Following the store opening, Olive Young also introduced the large-scale beauty festival "Olive Young Festa" in the United States for the first time. Olive Young Festa is an event where K-beauty brands introduce products to consumers and offer hands-on experiences. In Korea, 80,000 people have attended so far, and 418 brands have participated.
Inside and outside the venue, visitors carrying green Olive Young tarpaulin bags filled with cosmetics moved nonstop. At some booths, lines to try products firsthand stretched outside. Teenage visitors who came with their parents were also frequently seen. A store official said the Olive Young Pasadena location likewise has a high share of customers in their teens and 20s.
Emma, whom we met at the event, came with her father from Wisconsin to attend Olive Young Festa in LA. Emma said, "I first liked K-pop, and after watching K-dramas, I naturally became interested in K-beauty," adding, "Koreans' skin looks smooth and beautiful, so I started using K-beauty products like rice serum, and the results were good, so I recommended them to many friends."
Olive Young plans to focus on turning interest in K-beauty into brand recognition for Olive Young. Kang Myeong-ji, MD team leader at CJ Olive Young's U.S. corporation, said, "People know K-beauty, but the share of customers who know exactly what channel Olive Young is and visit is relatively low," adding, "Olive Young itself will be branded, and we will become a retailer that delivers the brands in-store easily and conveniently."
CJ aims to raise its North American sales, which were 8 trillion won last year, to 12 trillion won in 2028 by continuing to invest in core businesses such as beauty led by Olive Young. North American sales, which were about 800 billion won in 2017, grew tenfold through last year. Starting with an investment in DreamWorks in 1995, CJ has invested nearly 10 trillion won in North America over the past 30 years and currently operates 20 production facilities and 55 logistics warehouses in the United States.