KOTRA Continues the 'K-Beauty Wave' in Bologna, Italy

Operation of Korean Pavilion with 108 Companies at Bologna Cosmoprof Beauty Exhibition
"Full Support for Domestic Companies' Performance Achievement"

KOTRA announced on the 15th that it will operate a large-scale Korean Pavilion with a total of 108 domestic companies participating at the 'Italy Bologna Cosmoprof Beauty Exhibition' in collaboration with the International Beauty Industry Trade Association.

The 'Bologna Cosmoprof Beauty Exhibition,' now in its 54th edition, is the oldest among the world's three major Cosmoprof beauty exhibitions. This year, a total of 2,900 companies from 64 countries are participating. Although this number falls short of the 3,000 companies in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, it represents an approximately 11% increase compared to 2022. Various marketing programs such as Cosmotalk and the Cosmoprof Awards, which are ancillary programs, will also be held.

The total number of Korean companies participating in this year’s exhibition is about 250. Recently, Europe has seen a gradual increase in the online shopping population and e-commerce market since COVID-19, and among these, the market share of Korean Pavilion cosmetics has increased from 4.2% in 2019, just before the pandemic, to 7.8% in 2022, showing growing interest in Korean products.

KOTRA has prepared full-cycle support from the preparation stage to post-event to generate export-related results. In the pre-event phase, KOTRA opened the 'Cosmoprof Online Korean Pavilion' on KOTRA’s B2B online platform, BuyKorea, and conducted pre-event online promotions targeting global buyers. On the 8th, a webinar was held not only for participating companies but also for all domestic beauty companies interested in entering the European market to help them understand the European and Italian markets.

During the exhibition, to expand the achievements of Korean Pavilion participants, KOTRA will utilize its overseas trade office network to invite buyers from 213 companies in 24 countries including India and Colombia, providing intensive on-site consultations. Additionally, on-site consultations about the local market will be further supported, with marketing officers from KOTRA trade offices in Germany, Spain, Hungary, and Brazil participating to actively provide information about their respective markets, focusing all efforts on generating results.

Furthermore, to achieve short-term export results for early-stage exporters who find it relatively difficult to attract buyers’ attention, a 'K-Makeup Show' featuring their products will be held on-site. The live makeup show using local influencers will be produced as SNS promotional videos and supported intensively to lead to test orders through collaboration with companies that have local distribution networks. Alongside this, promotion within Italy will be strengthened by publishing articles about the Korean Pavilion in the famous Italian fashion magazine La Repubblica.

Kim Hyun-chul, head of KOTRA’s Europe Regional Headquarters, said, "Currently, K-Beauty is thriving not only in Western Europe but also in Northern Europe, with the Korean Wave gaining strong momentum. The Bologna Cosmoprof Exhibition is the optimal event to introduce K-Beauty to the premium market, and KOTRA will do its utmost to support it by mobilizing all the marketing know-how and capabilities it has accumulated."

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