CJ Olive Young×KOTRA, 'K-Box' Introduced with Over 220 SME Consultations

K-Beauty Experience K-Box Launched in September Last Year
Introduced 68 SME Brands to Buyers from 31 Countries Including the US and UK
Export Consultations Surpass 220 Cases... Export Contracts Reach Double Digits

A screenshot from the 'K-Box Unboxing' video introducing participating brands and products in K-Box.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] CJ Olive Young is accelerating the activation of cosmetics exports in collaboration with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).

Olive Young announced on the 13th that it introduced the K-beauty subscription service 'K-BOX' to buyers in 31 countries worldwide last September, achieving a total of 220 export consultation cases. Based on these results, Olive Young plans to actively expand the K-BOX business from the second half of the year and work with KOTRA to globalize K-beauty.

K-BOX is a business that delivers and introduces experience boxes composed of products from emerging K-beauty brands to overseas beauty-related buyers three times a year. This project was a collaboration between Olive Young and KOTRA last September to promote cosmetics exports. The two organizations joined hands with the aim of creating a platform where small and medium-sized enterprises can more easily promote their products overseas and seek export opportunities.

Despite the contraction in cosmetics exports, K-BOX has shown results each time. Through four pilot deliveries from last September to this year, 160 cosmetics from 68 domestic small and medium-sized enterprise brands met overseas buyers in 31 countries. The cumulative number of export consultations through K-BOX has surpassed 220 cases.

The number of concluded export contracts also reaches double digits. Considering that export contracts between companies usually take six months to a year, Olive Young explained that this is a meaningful figure. Interest mainly comes from buyers in North America, Europe, and Japan.

The product categories introduced through K-BOX have changed each time to reflect buyer demands. Initially focused on mask packs and basic cosmetics, the range has recently expanded to include color cosmetics, body products, and hand creams. K-BOX is characterized by including about 40 experience products along with brand and product brochures and unboxing videos to help understand the products.

To expand the K-BOX business, Olive Young plans to discover a cumulative total of 100 emerging K-beauty brands by this year, and KOTRA plans to continuously expand the pool of overseas buyers interested in K-beauty based on country-specific demand analysis.

Jung Wooyoung, Head of KOTRA’s Innovation Growth Division, said, "In a situation where the export industry faces difficulties such as global supply chain crises and rising raw material prices, we expect K-BOX to lead the diversification of the K-beauty export market," adding, "We will actively support the expansion of exports for small and medium-sized enterprises together with Olive Young, Korea’s representative K-beauty platform."

Jung Yoonkyu, Head of Management Support at CJ Olive Young (Management Leader), said, "We plan to further strengthen the role of 'K-beauty Gateway' that supports everything from discovering and nurturing small brands to exports in a one-stop manner," adding, "We will continue to actively discover and support growth opportunities for K-beauty to accelerate the globalization of Korean cosmetics."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.