After US consumers had tremendous spending sprees, beauty ecommerce in South Korea started opening more stores in the US. They believe the demand will outweigh the trade barrier costs. Korean beauty, or K-beauty, thrives in the global market because of its exquisite quality, low prices, and potent advertisement. They have capitalized on the popularity of Korea's other major highlights, such as music, movies, and television.
Tirtir CEO An Byung-Jun said, "K-culture, stuff like PSY before, then BTS, and even Korean dramas and movies like Parasite—that stuff set the stage. In the US, folks were already getting into South Korea."
Strategically spending businesses can adapt to the tariffs more easily than others. Many outsource product creation to cut costs.
In 2024, South Korea surpassed Germany and became the world's 3rd largest seller of beauty goods, following France and the US. Most of South Korea's 13 billion dollar makeup revenue comes from exports.
Korean beauty products, especially, seem to have a high market in California, according to Jin. He points out that Washington State may impose high sales taxes, but this does not affect the demand for K-beauty products that are offered at great prices.
Despite the belief that growth in beauty products sold to other countries has slowed, experts claim there has been a more supportive drive for markets after these products were formerly the primary clients for K-beauty goods. For now, investors that purchased stocks remain content with their K-beauty investments. Shares in d'Alba Global have surged since the company went public last month.