Addition of 'Cosmetics Sales Business' at the Regular General Meeting on the 27th
External Experts Also Recruited
LG Electronics is expanding its territory by diversifying its business beyond home appliances into innovative devices. Beauty and medical devices are representative examples. LG Electronics is striving to become the 'number one player in the home beauty market' by recruiting beauty experts from competitors and even venturing into cosmetics sales.
At the regular shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 27th, LG Electronics plans to add 'cosmetics sales business' to its business objectives. LG Electronics stated, "We plan to sell cosmetics that can be used in combination with our beauty and medical devices," adding, "This is to make it convenient for customers to purchase and to enhance product utilization." Although the specific direction has not been finalized, they are considering launching products in collaboration with LG Household & Health Care, a cosmetics manufacturer within the LG Group.
Recently, as the pandemic trend due to COVID-19 has eased, demand for skin and hair care stimulated by outdoor activities has increased, prompting LG Electronics to actively expand its business.
LG Electronics entered the home beauty market in September 2017 by launching the 'Pra.L LED Mask,' a skin elasticity management device. It was a product that led the popularization of the domestic home beauty market. In 2019, LG Electronics established a home beauty business division within the Home Entertainment (HE) Business Unit. In 2020, following the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of 'home beauty users' who manage their skin and hair at home increased, providing LG Electronics with a new growth momentum.
The home beauty device market is growing more than 10% annually as consumer needs to easily manage skin at home increase due to the time and cost burdens. In particular, cleansing devices hold the largest market share among home beauty devices, and elasticity management devices have recently been growing rapidly. The LG Economic Research Institute forecasts that the domestic home beauty device market will reach 1.6 trillion KRW this year. This means the market, estimated at 500 billion KRW in 2018, is expected to grow more than threefold in just four years. The global home beauty device market size is predicted to reach 42 trillion KRW this year.
In the domestic market, foreign brands such as Philips, L'Or?al, and Clarisonic, as well as major domestic companies including Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care, along with various small and medium-sized enterprises, are engaged in the home beauty device business.
LG Electronics is expanding its home beauty device lineup to compete with rivals. After launching the 'Pra.L' brand in 2017, the product range has grown to include home-use beauty LED masks, Intensive Multi-Care (skin elasticity devices), Eye Care (eye wrinkle improvement), Essential Booster (absorption enhancer), and WashPop (cleansing device). Earlier this year, LG Electronics also released 'Derma-Cera,' a facial contour management beauty device. Additional new products are expected to be launched. On the 10th of last month, LG Electronics filed trademarks such as 'Jelly Whip' and 'Wash Mellow' with the Korean Intellectual Property Office for exfoliation devices.
Along with expanding the lineup to match market growth, LG Electronics is strengthening its business by recruiting external experts. Nam Hye-sung, Executive Director, is a representative example as the first executive appointed after the establishment of the home beauty business division. Nam is recognized for establishing business models for flagship brands such as Sulwhasoo and Makeon during his 17 years at Amorepacific. Notably, Amorepacific's 'Makeon' was a brand competing fiercely with LG Electronics' home beauty device brand 'Pra.L' in the home care device market, which is significant. Nam is known to be responsible for planning, development, and production management of home beauty devices (cleansing) and medical devices (hair loss treatment).
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