Cosmetics-hunting foreign tourists spend 1 trillion won at Olive Young through November
Published: 03 Dec. 2025, 17:15
Updated: 05 Dec. 2025, 14:03
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- KIM JU-YEON
- [email protected]
![Customers line up to enter the Olive Young N Seongsu store in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, in this photo provided by the company. [CJ OLIVE YOUNG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/05/a5182152-3542-4a28-bab6-7f0c73d54b16.jpg)
Customers line up to enter the Olive Young N Seongsu store in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, in this photo provided by the company. [CJ OLIVE YOUNG]
Nearly nine in 10 overseas tourists who bought cosmetics in Korea this year shopped at Olive Young, with many turning their trips into multistore sprees, spending a record 1 trillion won ($680 million) as of November, the health and beauty retailer said Wednesday.
The revenue is up 26-fold from all of 2022, when travel resumed after the Covid-19 pandemic, CJ Olive Young said.
Forty percent of shoppers visited two or more outlets to check out varying selections, concepts and layouts. There are 1,370 branches in Korea, including flagship stores in central Seoul’s busy Myeongdong shopping district and western Seoul's Seongsu neighborhood.
Global Tax Free data shows the chain captured 88 percent of tax-refunded cosmetics purchases by foreign visitors in Korea as of November, reflecting the chain’s strong position in Korea’s offline beauty retail market, with shoppers from 190 countries claiming tax refunds at Olive Young stores.
Foreign tourists, drawn by Korea’s layered skincare rituals that emphasize cleansing, hydration and sun protection, spread their spending across all categories, pushing the number of annual multicategory buyers to 569,000 this year, up from just 12,000 in 2019.
Customers also bought more color cosmetics, health and lifestyle goods and health foods, with purchases up 43 percent, 45 percent and 42 percent from a year earlier, respectively.
Olive Young credited its “global tourism zone” strategy for the gains, citing multilingual staff, revamped flagship sites and a growing network of regional specialty stores. The number of designated tourism-zone stores more than doubled from last year to 135 as of November.
The company said it plans to fine-tune operations around peak travel seasons linked to foreign holidays and K-pop concerts, while strengthening ties to its cross-border e-commerce platform so visitors will continue buying Korean beauty products after returning home.
“Reaching 1 trillion won in purchases from foreign tourists means that small and indie brands connected with global customers through Olive Young," a spokesperson said in the chain's news release.
"We will continue to make K-beauty not just a trend, but a reason for travelers to return to Korea and a core driver of inbound tourism."
BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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