Since this year, the company has focused on developing online and offline sales channels in the United States.
Both Laneige and Sulwhasoo expanded their online sales via listings on Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the U.S., this past March and April respectively. As for in-store sales, Sulwhasoo entered 51 stores of beauty retailer Sephora in March, and Innisfree expanded its presence to more than 490 retailers, including Sephora and Kohl’s.
Last year, LG Household & Health Care acquired a 56 percent stake in the U.S. company Boinca for $100 million. Boinca’s high-end hair care brand Arctic Fox is also highly popular among America’s young adults.
AmorePacific led the Korean cosmetics boom in China starting in 2016. After that, the company achieved operating profits of approximately $780 million for the first time since its founding.
China’s zero-COVID policy is not the only reason Korean beauty companies are focused on expanding into the United States. Starting in 2017, Korean product sales in China began to drop due to a boycott imposed on the country by the CCP in retaliation for South Korea’s installation of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system on a U.S. military base.
Due to the CCP’s actions, AmorePacific said its first-quarter sales in China for 2022 dropped 10 percent year-on-year. As a result, in comparison to the previous year, the company’s total overseas sales dropped 6.1 percent, while operating profits dropped 19.5 percent.
LG Household & Health Care said its first-quarter sales dropped 19.2 percent and operating profits dropped 52.6 percent due to sluggish sales in China.
In a conversation on June 16 with Reuters, Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to China, said he expects Beijing’s zero-COVID policy to persist into 2023.