[K-Wave 3.0]①“Korea Is Hip”... Global Trend Sector ‘K-Lifestyle’

[New Year Series] Checking the Global K-Wave Scene
Content, Products, and Platforms... The "Triangular Axis" of the K-Craze
"Admiration for the Korean Lifestyle"

#Tenzin Radon, a 27-year-old woman living in Paris, France, has recently become deeply immersed in Korean skincare. She meticulously follows a multi-step routine-skin toner, serum, eye care, lip care, and face cream-and applies sunscreen every day. When she was met last November at Moida, a multi-brand cosmetics shop (MBS) in the Chatelet area, home to Paris’s largest subway transfer station, she was placing two containers of Mediqube’s Zero Pore Pads, a brand introduced by Korean beauty company APR, into her shopping basket. Radon first encountered K-beauty through the social media platform TikTok, and out of curiosity, she purchased the products. Satisfied with both the price and performance, she now says that 75% of her skincare products are Korean. “I use it whenever I feel my pores are getting larger-almost every day,” she said, adding, “This is already my third container of these toner pads.”

It is truly the “Age of K.” The Korean Wave (Hallyu), which began in the 1990s with the popularity of Korean dramas in China, has, over the past decade, expanded globally led by K-pop. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has rapidly penetrated daily life worldwide through the explosive growth of online platforms.

The Moida Paris store is not large in size, but it operates with 3 to 4 staff members who provide one-on-one attentive service to each customer. The employees personally test the products and explain how to use and combine them according to the customer's skin condition and concerns.

Korean food and products featured in K-content, including dramas, are now conquering not only neighboring countries around the Korean Peninsula but also the United States-the world’s largest consumer market-and even Europe. Consumers met on the global stage unanimously described Korea as “hip.” The Korean lifestyle, which has expanded from K-food and K-beauty, has firmly established itself as a global “trend sector.”

K-beauty’s achievements have been especially remarkable in France, the so-called “home of beauty.” In the heart of Paris’s Champs-?lys?es, lined with luxury brands, the local cosmetics retailer Sephora now features a “Korean Skincare” category that displays Korean beauty brands’ basic products by step. The Laneige display, Amorepacific’s flagship overseas brand, was at the center, and Korea was the only country to be highlighted by name and to have its skincare routine and steps explicitly presented.

At Samaritaine, a department store under the LVMH Group, K-beauty ranked first in cosmetics sales last year. Korean brands such as Chosungah Beauty, Biodance, TirTir, and Mediqube have successfully entered the mainstream French consumer market. Delphine Herve Tourat, a merchandise planner (MD), said, “Recently, K-beauty brands have all simultaneously entered the top five in sales, surpassing luxury brands. Demand for sheet masks has surged so much that we have set up a separate section just for them.”

Laneige display placed in the center of the Sephora Champs-?lys?es store. Amorepacific is targeting the US and European markets with Laneige as the core brand. Laneige belongs to the premium cosmetics segment with a higher price range in the local market.

This K-wave is also evident in the United States, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Greater China. After singer PSY’s “Gangnam Style” captivated the world in 2012, star-powered content and products-such as BTS, Blackpink, and K-Pop Demon Hunters-along with platforms, have formed a “triangular axis” to target the global market.

As a result, in Japan, Korean idols are used as models, K-beauty is imitated, and even Korean processed foods without official export approval are distributed unofficially due to their popularity. An industry insider said, “The global commonality is that people aspire to the Korean lifestyle,” adding, “Not only K-food and cosmetics, but also Korean sauces like soy sauce and gochujang are gaining popularity. K-brands are likely to remain sustainable for at least the next ten years.”