In South Korean beauty retail, Olive Young stands tallest, with 1,367 stores and counting, though that footprint buys no immunity from shifts in the industry.
Over the past few years, a new generation of beauty shops has stepped in to compete for K-beauty’s growing customer base, launched mostly by retail giants like Shinsegae, Lotte and even Musinsa, with each running curated multi-brand stores with its own spin.
Yet rising alongside them is another kind of retailer that tilts away from the familiar formula toward its own draw, whether price or medical credibility.
Scaled up, priced down
At the budget end of beauty, price tags run low and discounts run deep.
No chain captures the budget wave better than Daiso, the dollar-store operator that built its business on items priced between ₩1,000 and ₩5,000 (approximately RM2.90 to RM14.50), though at heart it remains a general merchandise chain.
A closer discount counterpart to Olive Young is emerging in Off Beauty, operated by Q&B International, the beauty arm of Daemyung Chemical, which spans logistics, aviation and fashion retail.
Billing itself as the country’s first urban beauty outlet, Off Beauty fills large warehouse-style stores with discounted inventory bought directly from brands, offering markdowns ranging from 20 to 90 percent off the list price.
Off Beauty’s economics come down to negotiating directly with brands and buying in bulk across a range of distribution channels to secure lower prices.
“Inventory terms and promotions are negotiated brand by brand and product by product,” a company official said.
“We cut out unnecessary distribution costs and margin structures to offer reasonable prices to consumers.”
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The company opened its first location in Seoul’s Gwangjang Market in May 2025. A little over a year later, it has 42 stores nationwide, with a target of up to 80 by the end of the year.
Foreign tourists account for a large share of shoppers at tourist-heavy spots like Seongsu and Myeong-dong, the company said.
Off Beauty’s cumulative sales topped ₩20bil (RM58mil) last year, with ₩50bil (RM140mil) projected this year.
“We are prioritising operational stability, commercial-district fit and the customer experience at each location,” the official added.
Beauty over the counter
The least expected challenger to come up may be the neighbourhood pharmacy, which has begun borrowing the same large-scale formats as ordinary beauty retailers.
Foreign visitors, fresh from dermatology and cosmetic surgery appointments, have in particular started treating pharmacies as a shopping stop. Card spending by foreign tourists at pharmacies rose 206% in May from a year earlier, according to the Korea Tourism Organisation.
Beauty-focused pharmacy chain Redy Young, for instance, has seven big-box stores, Myeong-dong, Seongsu and Hongdae among them.
They are outfitted with pop-up zones, duty-free counters and artificial-intelligence-based diagnosis kiosks.
These types of pharmacies have multiplied from nearly none last year to an estimated 40 to 50 today.
On the wholesale side, a platform called Baropharm has rolled out K-beauty zones as shop-in-shops inside pharmacies, with 10 already built and a target of more than 1,000 nationwide.
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Industry observers say the rivalry is only sharpening as K-beauty consumption spreads beyond Olive Young, duty-free shops and brand flagships to pharmacies.
Yet the pharmacies, stocked with over-the-counter drugs formulated with high-concentration active ingredients, also represent a risk without proper consultation from a pharmacist, they noted.
Answering rising demand for dermocosmetics, Olive Young debuted Advanced Derma in March, a skincare line built with domestic drugmakers and seen as gentler than pharmacy-grade OTC treatments.
Dedicated shelf space reached 650 stores within four months.
“Advanced Derma pairs our customer-data-driven merchandising with the technical expertise of Korean pharmaceutical companies,” an Olive Young official said. – The Korea Herald
