LG brings three more beauty brands to China

LG Household and Health Care opened two stores for three of its skin care brands in China on Sunday.

The stores, which will sell the company’s O Hui, VDL and Belief brands, are in the upscale Wulin Intime Department Store in Hangzhou. Along with The History of Whoo and Su:m37, the Korean cosmetics giant now has all five of its premium beauty brands in China.

O Hui is known for its anti-aging and skin whitening products, while Belief is focused on moisturizers, most notably facial cream, and VDL is a color cosmetics line.

“The decision came under the initiative to expand the portfolio of premium brands in China, where there is still huge potential for growth in the beauty industry in the long term,” the company said in a release Monday.

Even though the brands were not previously in brick-and-mortar stores in China, LG noticed growing demand from Chinese consumers, who were buying the products from duty-free shops in Korea and online sellers.

A company spokesman said the store in China will help offset a decline in tourism to Korea.

In March, the government in Beijing ordered Chinese tourism agencies to stop selling packages to Korea in apparent response to a decision by Seoul to install an American missile shield that China believes threatens its security.

Last month, the number of Chinese tourists fell a record 56 percent year on year.

Regarding possible hostility toward Korean products in China, the spokesman said the company has seen little effect on the cosmetics market.

LG’s plan for the three brands is to expand to other department stores in major Chinese cities.

The company’s entry into the Chinese market has yielded positive results. The History of Whoo has become one of the country’s top Korean cosmetics brands, with 182 stores in China since entering in 2006. Su:m37 launched in China last year and already has 58 stores.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr