South Korean companies both big and small are rushing to the cosmetics market, a rare sector where demand remains strong abroad and at home.

Biopharmaceutical name Celltrion Inc. is gearing up to expand its beauty products business through its cosmetics making subsidiary Celltrion Skincure Co. The company has been focusing on research and development of beauty products after acquiring Hanskin famous for so-called BB cream, or beauty balm, early in 2013.

Celltrion Skincure has started to reinforce marketing this year by increasing sales channels encompassing department stores, duty free shops, online malls, door-to-door sales and mobile shops. It launched three new brands last month and held a lavish launching event, which about 15,000 customers and business people attended.

Tobacco monopoly KT&G Corp. has also been strengthening its beauty business after changing the name of its subsidiary Somang Cosmetics, a company that it took over in 2011, into Cosmocos Co. The company released its new beauty brand called VPROVE last month. Its products containing V-Water, its self-developed special ingredient based on red ginseng extract, have proved efficacy and safety, the company said.

Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC), which exited the cosmetic business after selling off its stakes in KGC Life & Gin Co. to its parent company KT&G in 2010, is also set to reenter the beauty market. It recently launched red ginseng-based cosmetics brand Donginbi in a move to seek ways to diversify its business portfolio.

Those companies that are not traditional cosmetics companies are now venturing into the cosmetics market as part of their efforts to nurture new growth engines, industry observers note. In particular, Korea’s exports of beauty products have more than doubled last year to $1.8 billion from $800 million in 2011.

By Park Eun-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]