Etude House cruising in global cosmetics market

Young customers shop at an Etude House store on Siam Square in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the cosmetics brand’s first directly managed overseas store, and was opened in May. / Courtesy of AmorePacific

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Etude House, AmorePacific’s affiliate brand, is smoothly making inroads into the global cosmetics market with its enhanced brand image, an AmorePacific official said.

Under a new brand slogan of “Life is sweet,” Etude House has introduced a new set of product designs while strengthening its commercial campaigns to become the top global makeup brand for the young.

In 2007, Etude House opened its first overseas shop in Thailand to begin its global sales operation. It also entered the Japanese cosmetics market in 2011 by opening its first shop in Shinjuku, central Tokyo, and then Hong Kong in 2012. The company’s first shop in Hong Kong made over 200 million won in sales in the week after its opening.

Now operating some 230 stores in 12 different countries in Asia, Etude House said that it will continue promoting its marketing operations in the region, with establishing sales footholds around megacities there.

“Etude House plans to have more than 345 overseas stores in a bid to achieve half of the company’s total sales from the foreign market by 2020,” an official said.

“The company is also strengthening global customer communication by operating various social media channels to collect their opinions about our products. We aim to have 5 million social media followers for our brand across the world within five years.”

In a bid to attract more customers in their 20s, Etude House has already operated a number of social media channels in Korea where it currently has some 950,000 followers on Facebook and 320,000 followers on Instagram. The number of followers increased by 30 percent compared to last year’s figure while market researcher TNS said the company was this year’s most mentioned cosmetics brand online.

As a part of its efforts to attract more customers online, Etude House has carried out a multi-channel network (MCN) program to recruit so-called “beauty creators” since June. It selected a total of 25 global creators who will introduce Etude House products and its related makeup knowhow through various media platforms, including YouTube.

The famous beauty creator under the program was Q2HAN, the U.S.-born twin sister with 150,000 YouTube subscribers (https://www.youtube.com/c/q2han). They not only broadcast beauty tutorials by using Etude House products but also introduce various tour attractions around the world, receiving phenomenal attention especially from young women in their 20s.

This year’s Etude House cosmetics lineup includes Play 101 Stick, Tint My Brows Gel, Dear My Blooming Lips-Talk and Real Powder Cushion.

The Play 101 Stock is a multi-function color stick for eyes, cheeks and lips that creates color impact with a smooth and sheer finish. The product has gained great success since its introduction in December, sold a total of 1 million units with 25 billion won in sales across Asia.

The Tint My Brows Gel is a new-concept eyebrow gel tint that makes eyebrow makeup last longer after removing the tint.

The Dear My Blooming Lips-Talk is a girlish-pink inspired lipstick with a lightweight and soft texture, having gained huge attention from young people since K-pop star Crystal started to promote the product.

The Real Powder Cushion is an innovative multitasking powder cushion which provides all-day flawless face makeup with a light and powdery finish.