The Fashion and Beauty Industries Face a Strong Female Wave... The Glass Ceiling in Retail Is Cracking

Fashion and Beauty Industry Appoints Female CEOs and Executives
Ability to Understand Female Consumers Becomes Crucial
Key Positions Secured Based on Expertise and Performance
Attention on Whether the 'Glass Ceiling' Will Break in Retail Sector

(From left) Lee Jung-ae, President of LG Household & Health Care; Lee Seon-jeong, newly appointed CEO of CJ Olive Young; Lee Ji-young, CEO of Korea P&G. / Photo by each company

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyun Song and Hyewon Moon] As more women with expertise secure top executive (CEO) or executive positions, a strong ‘female wave’ is sweeping through the fashion and beauty industries. This trend is interpreted as a reflection of the advantage of broadly understanding female consumers’ characteristics and closely grasping trends, given that women are the main consumer base in these industries. It is also expected that cases of breaking the so-called ‘glass ceiling’ will continue across the distribution industry.

According to the industry on the 10th, female CEOs have recently been emerging one after another in the distribution sector. Especially in the fashion and beauty industries, where women are considered the main consumer group, women recognized for their abilities and achievements in related fields are taking key positions.

LG Group has produced its first female professional CEO. At LG Household & Health Care, Vice Chairman Cha Seok-yong, who led the company for 18 years, stepped down, and Vice President Lee Jung-ae was recently promoted to president. Lee, who joined LG Group through the 1986 open recruitment, was recognized for her marketing skills in the household goods division. She was promoted to vice president at the end of 2015 and has led the growth of major brands such as Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, and Seagram in the beverage business since 2019. Lee’s top priority is to recover performance severely impacted by China’s COVID-19 lockdown policies. She is expected to accelerate efforts in the North American market by leveraging her marketing expertise. She will also focus on improving performance through portfolio diversification across cosmetics, household goods, and beverage businesses. Lee is regarded as well-suited for this role, having experience in all three business divisions.

CJ Group also appointed Lee Sun-jung, CJ Olive Young’s business leader, as CEO in the regular executive reshuffle conducted last October. She is the youngest CEO within CJ Group and the first female CEO of Olive Young. The new CEO, a seasoned market expert in the beauty business, plans to focus on strengthening the company’s fundamentals centered on the beauty market amid the delayed listing of CJ Olive Young. With her appointment, CJ Olive Young aims to reinforce its omnichannel strategy and expand its influence in the health & beauty (H&B) sector.

Lee Ji-young, appointed as the new CEO of Korea P&G in June this year, is also generating expectations as a marketing expert. Born in 1978, Lee became the youngest Korean CEO of P&G. She joined Korea P&G as a marketing brand manager in 2000 and has held various key positions across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Singapore, and China, accumulating over 20 years of rich brand strategy and marketing experience. Based on this, she is expected to lead innovation and sustainable growth in the rapidly changing domestic market.

(From left) Inayeong, CEO of Puma Korea; Hangyeongae, Vice President of Kolon fnC; Anjeongeun, newly appointed CEO of 11st./Photo by each company

Women’s advances are also prominent in the fashion industry. Puma Korea appointed Lee Na-young as the new CEO in April. Lee previously worked at Reebok and Adidas’ domestic and global branches and joined Puma Korea in 2020, overseeing sales and marketing. She is recognized as a sales and marketing expert with over 20 years of experience across the food and beverage and sports goods industries. To further solidify Puma’s position as a global sports brand, she plans to aggressively strengthen the specialized sales and marketing sectors. She has also set a goal to achieve over 30% growth in the Korean market by 2024.

At Kolon Group, Han Kyung-ae, executive director in charge of Kolon Sports under Kolon Industries FnC division, was promoted to vice president. Additionally, five other female executives were promoted. Han is regarded as a first-generation director in the fashion industry and has overseen mainly men’s brands such as Henry Cotton, Series, and Customellow at Kolon FnC since 2005. With the organizational restructuring in the second half of this year, she is expected to focus on delivering results in ESG (environment, social, governance) management, a core business strategy.

SK Group-affiliated e-commerce company 11st also appointed COO Ahn Jung-eun as the new CEO. Upon official inauguration after board approval, Ahn will become the first female CEO in SK’s history. Ahn is recognized as an e-commerce expert with experience at Yahoo, Naver, and Coupang. Having directly developed differentiated services such as Amazon Global Store and the live commerce platform ‘Live11,’ she plans to focus on planning new services and expanding customer experience to secure new growth engines.