On the afternoon of the 27th of last month, in front of the Seven-Eleven convenience store near Ropponmatsu Station in Fukuoka, Japan. The store's shelves were filled with products from the Korean color cosmetics brand "CLIO Cosmetics" and "VT Cosmetics," each occupying a layer of the display racks. Store employee Mr. Takayuki noted, "Recently, there has been an increase in consumers looking for Korean cosmetics," adding, "Many are surprised by the wide variety of cosmetic types available."
Around the same time, at a nearby Lawson convenience store, products from the Korean brand "And By Rom&" were displayed. A group of female students did not pass by the display without taking a look. Their time spent there was longer compared to other sections, such as groceries.
The Japanese convenience store industry has turned to K-beauty as a winning strategy amid the decline in store numbers and sluggish consumption. For convenience stores, the increasing number of consumers in their teens and twenties visiting to look at cosmetics brings a customer attraction effect, while K-beauty gains access to overseas distribution networks, creating a win-win situation. In the past, cosmetics in convenience stores were primarily driven by "emergency demand" among travelers, but now there is enough demand that consumers purposely seek out convenience stores to buy cosmetics.
Lawson, the third-largest company in the Japanese convenience store industry, launched an eyeshadow palette co-developed with the Korean beauty brand Rom& in 2023, selling 300,000 units within just three days of its release, achieving success. The private brand product named And By Rom& is gaining popularity for its diverse color configuration.
Seven-Eleven, the largest convenience store chain in Japan, also introduced the Korean brand "Twinkle Pop by CLIO" last year. This is a new cosmetics brand that entered the market after 20 years. It launched 22 products, including eyeshadow and lip tints, at prices around 1,000 yen. Immediately after the launch, Seven-Eleven's sales of women's cosmetics saw an approximately 30% increase compared to the same period last year.
FamilyMart in Japan has introduced the "Hana by HINSE" brand in collaboration with LG H&H. This is a sister brand of "HINSE", which primarily targets those aged 25 to 35. It is aimed at a younger demographic of ages 18 to 25. FamilyMart plans to increase the proportion of purchases by young consumers through Korean cosmetics.
The Japanese convenience store industry views K-beauty as one of the key keywords for attracting Generation Z (those born from the mid-1990s to the 2000s). This is due to the popularity of affordable yet sophisticated K-beauty among young Japanese women, influenced by the Korean Wave and others. In fact, a recent opinion poll showed that "CLIO Cosmetics" and Rom& ranked first and second as the most preferred color cosmetics brands among Japanese women of Generation Z, both being Korean brands.
Thanks to this popularity, K-beauty continues to maintain the top position in Japan's imported cosmetics market. According to a recent announcement by the Japan Imported Cosmetics Association, K-beauty holds a 30.3% share of Japan's total cosmetics imports for the annual results of 2024, retaining the number one position for three consecutive years. The import amount from Korea was 134.27 billion yen (about 1.26 trillion won), a 40% increase compared to the previous year. The gap in market share with France, which came in second, has also widened by 4.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. The import amount for French products was 108.33 billion yen (about 1.08 trillion won), with a market share of 24.4%.
An industry insider said, "Affordable yet sophisticated K-beauty products are gaining popularity among Japanese teenagers and those in their twenties," adding, "Japan tends to concentrate consumption in convenience stores, so this localization strategy is an excellent choice. K-beauty is spreading into the daily lives of Japanese consumers."