{"id":228036,"date":"2025-10-20T23:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/228036\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T23:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:44:10","slug":"kardashian-endorsement-of-skincare-gadget-creates-k-beauty-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/228036\/","title":{"rendered":"Kardashian endorsement of skincare gadget creates K-beauty champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

A company with a $180 skincare gadget promoted by Kylie Jenner has become South Korea\u2019s most valuable cosmetics group, marking the rise of the next generation of K-beauty.<\/p>\n

APR\u2019s stock price has risen more than four-fold since January, pushing its market value to $6bn, close to that of rivals Shiseido<\/a> from Japan and e.l.f. Beauty from the US.<\/p>\n

Its performance signals the arrival of a new generation of Korean brands, such as d\u2019Alba Global and Goodai Global, which are choosing to focus on growth in the US and Europe, as well as China.<\/p>\n

Sales of APR\u2019s facial skincare device, that has electrical current and LED light functions, have risen after the product was promoted on TikTok by Jenner, a member of the Kardashian family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market focus is gradually shifting to beauty devices as highly engaged consumers no longer rely on expensive cosmetics,\u201d said APR\u2019s chief financial officer Shin Jae-ha in an interview at the company\u2019s headquarters in Seoul.<\/p>\n

APR also plans to launch a salmon sperm injectable product to be sold in licensed clinics by 2027. Salmon sperm ingredients for skincare products have been popular for years in Korea. <\/p>\n

\u201cKorea is a highly competitive market. We can\u2019t survive unless we develop new products and upgrade them fast enough in the overcrowded market,\u201d said Shin. <\/p>\n

The facial devices account for about a third of APR\u2019s US sales but Shin expects that proportion to increase next year.<\/p>\n

APR\u2019s main challenge was in differentiation, said Kayla Villena, global beauty insight manager at Euromonitor International. The company\u2019s competition includes Nu Skin and Procter & Gamble in the US, and France\u2019s L\u2019Or\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty devices market is quite competitive and the audience is smaller,\u201d said Villena.<\/p>\n

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Led by 36-year-old founder Kim Byung-hoon, APR has surpassed the valuation of other K-beauty brands Amorepacific and LG H&H partly as a result of his wide social media following and sleek product design. <\/p>\n

The company\u2019s revenue has increased sevenfold from just Won100bn ($70.3mn) in 2018 to more than Won700bn last year. Overseas sales in the second quarter represented nearly 80 per cent of its total revenues, with the US contributing almost 30 per cent, overtaking the company\u2019s home market.<\/p>\n

South Korea<\/a>\u2019s cosmetics exports jumped 20 per cent to $10.2bn last year, making it the world\u2019s third-largest exporter behind France and the US, according to the country\u2019s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.<\/p>\n

APR expects to take a hit from US tariffs<\/a> of 15 per cent on Korean cosmetics. But Shin said the tariffs were still \u201cmanageable\u201d and the company did not plan to raise product prices for the time being as it worked to gain market share.<\/p>\n

The company is seeking its next phase of growth from Europe, which it entered in March. Its largest markets are in the UK, Poland and France. <\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs our products sell well in the US, European consumers began to look for them,\u201d Shin said. \u201cBut Europe will be a more difficult market to crack, given different regulations and culture in each country.\u201d<\/p>\n

While APR and other Korean brands including Beauty of Joseon and Anua had been expanding in the US, European growth had been slower, said Bae Song-yi, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, citing the dominance of French beauty companies.<\/p>\n

But some investors have questioned whether APR can maintain its popularity overseas as competitors launch rival products.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are facing cut-throat competition,\u201d said Bae. \u201cInvestors\u2019 biggest concern is how the company can maintain its competitive edge going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-228036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}