BeautyCurly, Pre-Opened on Market Kurly Last July, to Have 'Grand Open' This Month
Platform Name Changed from 'Market Kurly' to 'Curly' Ahead of Official Opening, Establishing Market-Beauty Dual Leadership
Aiming for 'Expansion of Experience' to Embed Curly... Increasing Online Categories and Offering Offline Experience Classes
[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Kurly officially opened 'Beauty Kurly' this month, expanding its ecosystem beyond the grocery market. Ahead of the official launch of Beauty Kurly, the platform name was changed from 'Market Kurly' to 'Kurly' to shift the perception from a grocery-centered service and to become a core platform in the beauty category as well.
According to the distribution industry on the 3rd, Kurly set the official opening of Beauty Kurly, originally scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, to this month and began reorganizing the platform to coincide with the 'grand opening.'
At the end of July, Beauty Kurly was pre-opened by placing a separate tab at the top of the Market Kurly application (app), allowing users to shop for beauty products separately. The product categories were subdivided into 16 segments including skincare, makeup, cleansing, hair, body, oral care, perfume, and men's products. The number of products was increased to over 5,000, ranging from popular items to imported luxury goods. After the pre-opening of Beauty Kurly, sales of related products nearly tripled compared to before the opening.
Kurly emphasizes that the strength of Beauty Kurly lies in the ability to receive beauty products via 'dawn delivery (Saetbyeol delivery)' when shampoo runs out today or when makeup is needed before going to work tomorrow. High trust in brands due to rigorous product verification and ingredient disclosure methods is also cited as a strength. With the grand opening this month, Kurly plans to expand the assortment to include luxury beauty and hold various events to break away from the image limited to the market. Upgrades to product search, recommendation, and review systems tailored to beauty purchasing patterns are also planned.
As a preliminary step, Kurly changed the service name from Market Kurly to Kurly. Previously, the company name was Kurly and the service name was Market Kurly, but with the addition of a separate Beauty Kurly tab, both Market Kurly and Beauty Kurly tabs existed within Market Kurly. Kurly announced in the app the day before, stating, "From the 28th of last month, the service name was changed from Market Kurly to Kurly," and added, "Within the Kurly app, the Market Kurly tab offers eco-friendly ingredients, gourmet food, and daily necessities, while the Beauty Kurly tab features carefully selected beauty brands."
Kurly's direction is the 'expansion of experience.' Starting from online grocery shopping, Kurly is expanding online shopping categories to include beauty and has also created experiential spaces offline where customers can experience grocery-related culture pursued by Kurly. 'Off Kurly,' launched in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, last September, opened classes on gourmet experiences using olive oil, filling all seats in September and October. Due to high demand, additional classes were opened for two weeks this month. While there is a kind of 'goods shop' where related products can be purchased after gourmet experiences, there is no market selling Kurly's main products. It is operated as a way to convey the message that diverse and rich gourmet experiences can be had using ingredients provided by Kurly.
An industry insider said, "Leveraging the strength of dawn delivery, Kurly is strengthening non-food sectors such as beauty while expanding offline stages to imprint brand image and secure loyal customers," adding, "At a time when an IPO is imminent, various attempts will continue to simultaneously achieve external expansion and revenue diversification."
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