Braving the Rain, Crowds Flock to Experience Musinsa Beauty Festa with Pink Bags in Hand [Report]

Musinsa Beauty Festa Captivates Teen Beauty Enthusiasts
Teens and Twentysomethings Gather in Seongsu-dong
Special Zone Created to Discover Your Own 'Chugumi'
"An Even Bigger Beauty Festa Coming in the Second Half of the Year"

Inside the 'Next Beauty' zone located within Musinsa Square Seongsu 4. The opposite end is crowded with people eager to explore the Musinsa Standard booth. Participating brands include Housefog, Hetlas Beauty, Yooareun, Forest, Ongredients, Dermalrojaka, Oddtype, Musinsa Standard Beauty, Adore, Arbe, Aromatica, Picasso, and Banilaco. Photo by Minji Lee.

On May 16, when the rain was intermittent, the front of 'Musinsa Square Seongsu 4' in Seongdong-gu, Seoul was packed with a long line of female customers carrying pink (coral) non-woven bags. This was because Musinsa launched the 'Musinsa Beauty Festa' on this day, attracting hundreds of visitors over a three-day period.

Musinsa Beauty made its first offline appearance of the year. After hosting its first Beauty Festa in September last year, Musinsa is holding its second Beauty Festa in the first half of this year in collaboration with 45 brands. Unlike the first event, which used the entire Seongsu-dong area spanning 200,000 pyeong (661,157 square meters) as the venue, this Beauty Festa was designed to allow visitors to experience a wide variety of brands with less walking. The event is held in three buildings: 'Musinsa Square Seongsu 4', 'Store Seongsu@Daelim Warehouse', and 'Beauty Space 1'.

On the afternoon of the 16th, a long queue formed at the entrance of 'Musinsa Square Seongsu 4' in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Minji Lee.

Known as the 'Hyeja (meaning extremely cost-effective) pop-up', Musinsa quickly sold about 3,000 tickets during the three-day pre-sale that started on the 9th. The competition was so fierce that the waiting list for ticket purchases alone reached nearly 3,000 to 4,000 people. For this event, Musinsa prepared exclusive products for pre-registrants, a Chugumi (aesthetic preference) kit, and a 30,000 won shopping support coupon as giveaways.On the day of the event, more consumers than expected showed up, so entry was allowed in groups of five at a time. If this momentum continues through the weekend, it is expected that about 10,000 visitors will attend the Beauty Festa.

Inside the 'Only Musinsa Beauty' zone, consumers eager to try the products are lined up in a long queue. Photo by Minji Lee.

A notable aspect of this event is that a space was set up where visitors can discover their own 'Chugumi' (aesthetic preference) and receive product recommendations accordingly. Previous Beauty Festas focused on inviting many brands, promoting their main products, and giving out samples in exchange for playing games, subscribing to online brand channels, or clicking 'like'. As a result, consumers tended to focus more on collecting as many samples as possible rather than on the products themselves.

Musinsa, recognizing that consumers want to purchase products that match their own sense of beauty, created an experiential zone called 'Only Musinsa Beauty Zone' outside the pop-up store. Here, consumers can try products that are exclusively available at Musinsa and receive samples that match their Chugumi.

If you stamp the keyword you want on the smartphone, you can check what your aesthetic preference is on the right screen. Photo by Minji Lee.

Consumers can enter the Beauty Zone, try products from 30 brands, and select four keywords from their favorite brands. They can then check their Chugumi through the app. The keywords include a total of 12 options: classic, clean, chic, cute, lovely, natural, pure, healthy, trendy, sophisticated, unique, and personal taste. For example, if you stamp 'lovely', 'natural', 'sophisticated', and 'cute', you might discover your Chugumi as 'lovely girlcore'.

There were also some drawbacks. It was not easy to find the connection between the products and the keywords. For example, a product specialized for scar treatment and another for atopic skin had the keywords 'chic' and 'healthy', respectively, but there was no clear explanation as to why these products were assigned those keywords. In addition, since different staff members provided different keyword guidance, it seemed difficult for consumers to find their perfect Chugumi.

Inside the store, a 'Next Beauty Zone' was set up. A total of 13 brands set up booths, and about 70% were Musinsa's own brands (PB) or small and medium-sized brands without offline stores. Among them, the Musinsa Standard Beauty and PB brand Oddtype booths were especially crowded with consumers eager to try the products.

Musinsa Standard Beauty mainly showcased its perfume products. These have been sold online and in a section of the Standard store, and as consumer praise for the gender-neutral scents has increased, transaction volume in the first quarter of this year rose fourfold compared to the same period last year. Oddtype allowed consumers to try its newly launched 'Skin Sync-Up Cushion' from February.

In addition, Musinsa is hosting a pop-up for the makeup brand Jung Saem Mool at Musinsa Store Seongsu@Daelim Warehouse, and a pop-up for the nail care brand Lement at Beauty Space 1. The Jung Saem Mool pop-up, with the concept of a 'Cushion Art School', allows visitors to explore the brand's entire lineup. The Jung Saem Mool pop-up and Beauty Festa will run until the 22nd.

Musinsa plans to hold an even larger Beauty Festa in the second half of the year. A Musinsa representative said, "If the first-half Beauty Festa was just a teaser, the one in the second half will be on a much larger scale to attract beauty enthusiasts."

Meanwhile, Musinsa is showing solid growth as a major entry channel for beauty brands. As of last year, transaction volume increased about ninefold compared to the end of 2021, when the business was launched. The number of buyers increased by 5.6 times.