Handsome's luxury skincare brand Oera lures Chinese tourists

South Korean clothing manufacturer and retailer Handsome Corp., a Hyundai Department Store Co. unit, is enjoying growing popularity among Chinese visitors to Korea thanks to its premium cosmetics brand Oera.  

Sales of Oera to Chinese visitors at Korean duty-free shops in the first half of 2024 soared to 2.3 times the year-earlier period, Handsome said on Sunday. The cosmetics brand's overall sales at domestic duty-free stores increased 55% on-year over the same period.

Handsome imports globally renowned brands such as Lanvin, Bally, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein and manufactures Korean brands such as Time and System. In a bid to diversify its business, it acquired beauty products maker Cleangen Cosmeceuticals in 2020. 

The following year, it launched Oera as a luxury skincare brand that uses natural ingredients from Switzerland.

But the skincare brand’s operator Handsome Life & Corp. lapsed into capital erosion last year, with 5.4 billion won ($3.9 million) in operating losses and 4.8 billion won in revenue due to high manufacturing costs.

The cosmetics brand began to rebound with rising sales at duty-free shops early this year. In May, sales to Chinese travelers at Korean duty-free shops surged by more than eight-fold on-year. 

The sharp increase came after a Chinese social media influencer in May introduced Oera’s premium product line Signature Prestige as skincare items beloved by affluent Korean consumers. Oera soon went viral among Chinese consumers in their 20s and 30s.

“Our skincare products with high-performing ingredients, such as pearl, attracted Chinese consumers with high purchasing power. In late May, a Chinese customer at one of our duty-free shops tested our brand and bought 10 million won worth of products there,” said a Handsome official.

Handsome is considering developing a new product line targeting Chinese customers, by reflecting their needs and consumption trends in cosmetics.

The company will launch Oera in a physical store at Hyundai Duty Free Dongdaemun in Seoul and on the Shilla Duty Free website by the end of July.

Write to Hyung-Joo Oh at ohj@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.