Vietnam represents potential lucrative market for Korean beauty products

The newspaper quoted data by the Korea Cosmetics Association as saying that Korean cosmetics exports to Vietnam from January to May this year surged by 43.4% compared to the same period last year, raking in US$187.5 million.

This is the highest growth rate the Republic of Korea has acquired from the Vietnamese cosmetics market, followed by the United States (25.7%) and Hong Kong-China (16.7%).

Elsewhere, cosmetic exports to China, which has historically been the RoK’s biggest cosmetics exports destination, stood at at US$1.2 billion, a drop of 25.7%.

its cosmetics exports to the Japanese market also saw a 5.3% decrease to US$323.9 million.

“Additional data showed that K-beauty's performance in Vietnam has been gaining traction,” said the media outlet.

It also cited data from the US Department of Commerce showing the RoK had the largest market share in terms of Vietnamese imported cosmetics market at 30%, followed by the EU at 23%, Japan at 17%, Thailand at 13%, and the US, 10%.

The Korea Herald stressed that currently, 90% of all cosmetics consumed in the Vietnamese beauty market are from foreign brands.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea International Cultural Exchange Agency on consumers aged 15 to 59 in Vietnam, 91.2% respondents said they have purchased at least one Korean cosmetic product over the past year, and some 68.8% buy Korean beauty products frequently.

“The growth in Korean beauty products in the Vietnamese market points to the possibility that the country could potentially function as an alternative market for Korean beauty companies, whose performance in China has been stalling recently,” said The Korea Herald.

It also reported that Statista, a German data analysis platform, noted that the Vietnamese beauty market is likely to grow to US$2.7 billion next year.