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| Men's skincare zone at a CJ Olive Young store in Busan / Courtesy of CJ Olive Young |
By Kim Jae-heun
A 31-year-old office worker surnamed Kim living in Gangdong District, Seoul, has been purchasing a number of cosmetics products to take care of his appearance.
"I started to spend money on cosmetics items since I turned 30. Like many other men, I usually buy fundamental products like lotion, sunblock and facial mask packs. A lot of men, these days, start taking care of their skin from a young age, as they've learned that it makes quite a big part of their appearance," Kim said.
Cosmetics makers and retailers here are strengthening their men's cosmetics lineups as the segment emerges as a new blue ocean ― a market relatively free from competitors.
According to CJ Olive Young, the country's largest health and beauty retailer, men accounted for 30 percent of first-time customers over the past three years, up 150 percent from 2021. Also, the amount of men's cosmetics products purchased by male consumers increased by nearly 40 percent until the end of June, compared to that of last year.
"(The) men's cosmetics sector has been growing quite explosively from five years ago. If we had only all-in-one items for men before, we now have various beauty products such as toner, color lip balm and men's special hair treatment," a CJ Olive Young official said. "We will continue to discover new skincare brands for men and expand our product lineups at Olive Young stores across the country."
The country's biggest cosmetics firm AmorePacific is beefing up its men's cosmetics brand B.READY.
Since the brand's launch in 2019, B.READY has shown annual sales growth of 68 percent. In particular, its sales of new sunblock item B.READY Blue Sun Cream showed 317 percent growth a month after its release in April, compared to that of other sunblock products, last year.
The size of the domestic men's cosmetics market is estimated at about 1.1 trillion won ($821.6 million), this year, up nearly 4 percent from 2022, according to a global market researcher Euromonitor. The market is expected to grow to 1.16 trillion won by 2025.
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