Chairman Suh Kyung-bae of AmorePacific.

AmorePacific has been steadily working to “expand the essence of Asian beauty” around the world, overcoming various obstacles on its way such as China’s THAAD retaliatory measures which blocked the sale of AmorePacific cosmetics around China.

The cosmetics giant’s extensive efforts paid off handsomely last year with the sales revenue in the first three quarters of 2017 rising 6.5 percent to 1.3 trillion won year-on-year with first half sales up 9.7 percent YoY at 840.7 billion won.

The cosmetics firm is ready to kick off its third “Yongsan Age” with its recent move into a new office complex building in Yongsan District in Seoul.

The company is on its way to explore new markets in such regions as the Middle East and Western Europe by building bridgeheads there, in addition to its burgeoning markets in the Chinese sphere, ASEAN and North America.

Such well-known and popular cosmetics products as Laneige, Sulwhasoo, Etude Hause, Innisfree and Mamond have been at the center of its new campaign to penetrate new markets around the world.

In order to enter the ASEAN market, the company has been working to build a production base in Malaysia’s Nu Jasaya Industrial region, a transportation center easily accessible from Singapore, where the company’s Asian regional office is located. 

Many trade routes cris-cross the port city as the center of transportation in the ASEAN region. It will be the third production complex for AmorePacific after Sartre in France and Shanghai, China, projected to be completed in 2020. Singapore is also the hub of AmorePacific’s R&D activities with Korean expatriate research staff engaged in various activities to study the skin of peoples in ASEAN countries in cooperation with such educational institutions as NTU and NUS on some particular research subjects.

Five global champion brands have already enjoyed huge popularity in the ASEAN region with local subsidiaries already in business in such member countries as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. InnisFree has three boutiques already in Indonesia, while Mamond has been operating its No. 1 shop in the Vivo City, the largest shopping mall in Singapore.

The cosmetics giant aims to be the top cosmetics maker in ASEAN in 2020 with its annual sales boosted to 500 billion won.

North America is the most popular and the largest cosmetics market in the world. Laneige is being displayed in the offline and online shopping line of Sepora.com, while InnisFree opened its shop in Union Square in Manhattan, New York, September, last year. AmorePacific, whose mission is to make women’s lives better, has also been undertaking social contribution activities.

Last year, AmorePacific Group expanded its social service activities by spending 24 billion won so that its social contributions are here to stay.

The cosmetics product group has been unfurling its activities to make women “more beautiful,” focused on three core areas; woman, natural ecology and culture.

The group executed its social service activities under such programs as “Make up Your Life Campaign,” the “Pink Ribbon Campaign,” “Hope Household Finance,” and “the Beautiful Life,” among others. 

A view of AmorePacific’s Laneige outlet in Singapore. (Photos: AmorePacific)