Olive Young Tops 1 Trillion Won in Foreign Sales as K-Beauty Shopping Goes Nationwide

CJ Olive Young announced on August 31 that its annual sales to foreign customers have surpassed 1 trillion won this year. The retailer reached the milestone three months earlier than last year, when it crossed the mark in November. Foreign customers made 11.01 million purchases from January to August - roughly one transaction every 0.9 seconds of store operating hours. Based on tax-refund data, shoppers came from 192 countries, with the United States, Singapore, Japan, China and Thailand as the top five.

For travelers, the key takeaway is that K-beauty shopping is going nationwide. Year-on-year foreign sales jumped 105% in Gangwon, 88% in Gyeongju, 80% in Daejeon and 62% in Jeonju, with growth strongest outside Seoul. Foreigners' share of offline store sales also grew from 2% in 2022 to 33% as of August this year. In short, it has become much easier to fit K-beauty shopping into your itinerary even when traveling beyond Seoul.