This study attempts to provide guidance for the growth of Korean cosmetics market by studying the awareness and purchase patterns regarding Korean cosmetics among foreign visitors to Korea. The study analyzed the characteristics of foreign visitors to...
This study attempts to provide guidance for the growth of Korean cosmetics market by studying the awareness and purchase patterns regarding Korean cosmetics among foreign visitors to Korea. The study analyzed the characteristics of foreign visitors to Myeong-dong on their Korean cosmetics awareness and purchase.
For the brand awareness about Korean cosmetics, Chinese visitors showed the highest awareness and Taiwanese and Japanese visitors followed that. And American visitors showed a low-level awareness in comparison to those from other countries. It showed that Korean cosmetic brands' popularity was limited to Asian countries and the promotion method is no more than the indirect promotion through the media. It seems that it is necessary to secure various channels to make customers experience and purchase the product in person to obtain direct effects. The next was a question regarding what brand of cosmetics one wants to buy and the answers varied by whether it was cosmetics from a cosmetics brand shop or premium cosmetics. About the brand shop cosmetics, 88.7 percent could choose the brand that one wanted though the brands chosen were different by countries. About premium cosmetics, most but Chinese visitors answered that they had no brand that they wanted to buy, which differed from the answers to the brand shop cosmetics. This tells that most known Korean cosmetics were mainly of economic brands. To increase the long-term value of Korean cosmetics, the up-scaling strategy of Korean cosmetics may be necessary.
About the question whether the brand that they purchased was what they had used before their visit to Korea, the visitors who had high awareness about Korean cosmetics purchased more and their purchase reason was mainly that it was what they had been using. In comparing the purchased items by countries, it showed different preferences. A strategy customized for each country would be necessary based on this result.
The analysis of those who did not purchase any cosmetics during their visit showed that they did not buy cosmetics because they did not need it. It may be a hopeful message that they did not buy it does not mean that they think lowly of Korean cosmetics and they still have great potential as future customers.
About the improvements that they wanted to see in their Korean cosmetics purchase experience, they complained most about the lack of information about products and problems of communication to make the communication the biggest issue. It showed that the Korean cosmetics market is still for domestic customers and we may have had a different result if we targeted visitors to the duty-free shops.
This survey among foreign visitors to Korea gave positive results about the future of Korean cosmetics. Those who purchased Korean cosmetics during their visit answered in large proportion that 'I re-purchase it after I tried it before'. Those who had no interest in Korean cosmetics also answered in large proportion that 'I want to buy it next time'. Seeing the items purchased by countries, it was not only the specialized items like BB creams, packs, masks but also stock items like skin, lotion and skin food and other high-price items. Also, not just the economic brands but some high-end brands including the representative oriental medicine brand were known widely. Therefore, for the continuous growth of Korean cosmetics in foreign markets, we have to improve the image of Korean cosmetics, and for that, we have to devise active marketing strategies while continuing the investment in product development for the up-scaling and differentiation of Korean cosmetics.