Musinsa opens its first offline cosmetics store in Seoul
South Korean fashion retailer Musinsa has opened its first offline cosmetics store, Musinsa Beauty Hongdae, in Seoul’s Hongdae district. All four floors of the store are dedicated to beauty products, while the basement houses the K-beauty-focused Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy, Korea Herald reports.
Cosmetics and pharmacy consultations
The pharmacy space is operated by the Onnuri Pharmacy franchise. Pharmacists provide personalized consultations there, including in several languages for foreign visitors. The pharmacy sells medicines and other products that require professional consultation and are subject to relevant regulations.
The upper floors feature skincare products, color cosmetics and health products from around 600 brands. The store’s concept reflects consumer interest in products designed for specific skin needs and containing popular ingredients, including polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) and tranexamic acid.
Musinsa explained its choice of Hongdae by the large number of foreign visitors and young cosmetics consumers, primarily women in their 20s and 30s, who want to examine and test products offline. The company also said that after launching a beauty zone on the second floor of its Mega Store in the Seongsu district, sales in that zone rose by 20% in August compared with April.
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According to Musinsa, sales of around 500 cosmetics brands on its online platform increased by 35% in the three weeks after the beauty zone opened in Seongsu. The company suggested that its offline presence also contributed to the growth of online sales.
Daiso bets on affordability
Discount retailer Daiso last month opened a 66.12-square-meter store near Konkuk University in Seoul, where beauty-category products account for about 80% of the assortment. As in other stores in the chain, all products there cost less than 5,000 won, or about $3.70.
The company said that nationwide sales of beauty-category products grew by around 30% from January through August compared with the same period of the previous year. Daiso cosmetics and skincare products have repeatedly sold out after gaining popularity online. The outlet names Mommy Care’s Sea Grape Skin Pack and VT Cosmetics’ Reedle Shots among such products.
