Dr. Wolff to challenge AmorePacific, LG in hair care market

Eduard Doerrenberg, managing director of Dr. Wolff

By Lee Hyo-sik

Dr. Wolff, the maker of Alpecin caffeine shampoo, has vowed to take a bigger slice of Korea’s rapidly growing functional shampoo market, fueled by an increasing number of people suffering from hair loss.

Dr. Wolff Managing Director Eduard Doerrenberg said Korean men will stop using shampoo made by AmorePacific, LG Household & Health Care and other companies once they experience how effective Alpecin shampoo is in preventing or slowing baldness.

“We have accumulated extensive knowhow and expertise in scalp care since 1930 when we first introduced the Alpecin brand,” Doerrenberg said in an interview with The Korea Times.

“On the other hand, our larger rivals in Korea and elsewhere have no knowledge about how to prevent hair loss. They have just jumped on the bandwagon and introduced functional shampoo and other hair care products just to meet the growing market demand,” he said.

The managing director, who oversees the firm’s sales and marketing, said Alpecin will soon become one of the top-selling shampoos in Korea in line with the growing number of men and women concerned about hair loss.

“Since March when we officially launched Alpecin, our sales have soared 200 percent, indicating how eager Koreans are to try new kinds of hair-loss shampoo,” he said. “We are optimistic that our sales will continue to grow as we expand our online and offline channels.”

Olive Young, Korea’s largest lifestyle store chain owned by CJ Group, will begin selling Alpecin caffeine shampoo in June, taking the 113-year-old German cosmetics firm to the next level, according to Doerrenberg.

Founded in 1905, Dr. Wolff first introduced the Alpecin brand in 1930. In the early 2000s, Alpecin introduced its first caffeine-containing product, Alpecin Liquid, a caffeinated hair tonic.

Alpecin caffeine shampoo, the brand’s best-selling product, has become the top male hair loss shampoo in Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and is now available in more than 40 countries.

Worldwide, over 125 million bottles of its caffeine-containing hair products have been sold. The company earned 83.6 million euro (104.4 billion won) in sales last year.

To more effectively manage the firm’s rapidly growing business in Asia, Doerrenberg moved to Singapore in 2014.

“We know it is not easy to penetrate the Korean market because it is very competitive. But Korean consumers will soon realize how safe and effective our hair products are,” Doerrenberg said. “We are optimistic that we can repeat a success story in Korea.”

Dr. Wolff will continue to bring more products into Korea, including Plantur, a hair loss shampoo for women, and Karex, a chlorine-free toothpaste, he said.

“Our products are on the shopping lists of many Korean tourists visiting Germany. We plan to make all our popular items readily available here for consumers in the near future,” he said.