Corporate Sales:

$4.5 billion

Beauty Sales:

$4.4 billion

Key Personnel:

• Suh Kyung-bae, chairman and CEO of Amorepacific Group
• Kim Seung-hwan, president, Amorepacific Group
• Ahn Sae-hong, president, Amorepacific Corporation
• Lee Dong-soon, president, Amorepacific Corporation

Major Brands/Products:

More than 20 luxe and “daily” cosmetics, personal care, and health care brands including Amore Pacific, Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Mamonde, Innisfree, Etude, Sienu, Hera, Primera, IOPE, Hanyul, Lirikos, Goutal Paris.

New Products:

Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Line, Hera Black Cushion, Amore Pacific Time Response Intensive Renewal Ampoule.

Financial Summary:

A push on hero products in multiple brands helped boost Beauty sales at Amorepacific to $4.4 billion in 2021, an increase of 11.58% over the previous year. Domestic luxury sales grew 22% over the previous year to $1.3 billion.

In 2021, Amorepacific Group focused on generating online sales and developing strong brands and as a result, says it was able to “significantly increase the profitability of the business and strengthen its presence in both Korean and global markets.”

The South Korean company says it continued with its efforts to improve the profitability and efficiency of traditional retail channels and at the same time, diversified its online channel portfolio and increased investment in digital marketing. In the Korean market, luxury brands including Sulwhasoo and Hera reported good performance, largely driven by their growth in the online channel. Premium brands including Laneige and Mamonde collaborated with brands in other areas, such as Maison Kitsune and Mardi Mercredi, and created a variety of digital content, which aided their growth in the online channel.

In China, Sulwhasoo and Laneige recorded double-digit sales growth through their active push into digital channels. In the North American market, both Laneige and innisfree entered Amazon, and the growth in online channels contributed greatly to the overall performance. In Europe, Amorepacific expanded its online customer touchpoints with Laneige entering Cult Beauty, a British e-commerce channel, and with innisfree joining Sephora.

Brands also strengthened their competitiveness through the development of Engine Product, their core product line. In the Korean market, Sulwhasoo and Hera launched an advanced version of their star product, Concentrated Ginseng Renewing and Black Cushion, respectively to sharpen their competitive edge, and daily beauty brands including Ryo, Mise-en-scène, Happy Bath and Illiyoon turned their functional premium lineup into a springboard for further growth. In the global market, the strategy to focus on the core product resulted in the growth of high-end lineups including Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing as well as the functional skincare category in Laneige.

2021-2022 Highlights:

In October 2021, Amorepacific entered into an investment agreement to secure minority shares of emerging K-beauty company COSRX, as well as pursue joint projects. COSRX is a K-beauty brand with eight product lines distributed in 40 countries, including the U.S., Southeast Asia, Europe, China and Japan, with overseas sales accounting for 80% of total sales. Amorepacific agreed to acquire a 38.4% minority stake in COSRX for $153 million, making the group the second largest shareholder of COSRX.

In December 2021, Laneige Water Sleeping Mask, featuring Eastman’s Cristal Renew packaging, entered Sephora.

In May, the Korea Times reported that Amorepacific employees had been caught embezzling more than $2 million. The majority of the money was later recovered and those involved were punished.

In 2022, Amorepacific Group vowed to use the same Engine Product strategy. Through the development of Engine Products, market analysis, better customer service and expansion into new beauty business, Amorepacific Group said it would fortify its brand assets and at the same time, strengthen its content operation capabilities, build an online-based fandom community and innovate its digital-powered business model. In addition, the company said it would strengthen ESG management with “empathy-building practices,” revamp its business fundamentals to become more profitable and adopt a new management system.

In September 2022, Amorepacific entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tata’s Natural Alchemy, LLC (Tata Harper), a U.S. based pioneer in natural luxury skincare, in a move that further signals the company’s intention to continue its penetration of global markets via a focus on consumers in North America. The closing of the acquisition is expected to take place in early 4Q 2022. Harper, the company’s co-founder, will continue to lead the brand.

Sulwhasoo also launched an advanced version of their star product—Concentrated Ginseng Renewing and Black Cushion—in the Korean market to sharpen their competitive edge.

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