APR Sells 30 Billion in Four Days Riding on TikTok, '1 Trillion Club' in Sight

The K-beauty company APR, which is rewriting the landscape of the beauty industry, is rapidly growing in the global market, and achieving an annual sales of 1 trillion won this year is within reach. The main brand Medicube is gaining explosive popularity in the US market, solidifying its position alongside AmorePacific and LG Household & Health Care as one of the 'Big Three K-beauty' brands.

According to the beauty industry on the 21st, APR achieved approximately 30 billion won in sales through Medicube products during the Amazon Prime Day event held from the 8th to the 11th. This is more than six times the figure compared to the same event last year. Compared to the 'Big Spring Sale' held by Amazon last March, the performance is 136% higher. During the event, the search term 'Medicube' ranked 1st in the Amazon beauty category and 9th overall. Amazon Prime Day is a large-scale discount event held annually in the summer for paid members and is considered one of the two major events representing the US online shopping market along with Black Friday.

APR began to stand out in the US market from July 2023. The brand awareness surged when world-renowned celebrity Hailey Bieber posted a video on TikTok using Medicube's home beauty device 'Age-R Booster Healer'. Subsequently, through collaborations with global celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, the brand quickly increased its loyalty and repurchase rate. Currently, the US market has become a key growth axis, accounting for 27% of APR's total sales. As of the first quarter of this year, US sales were 70.9 billion won, a 2.75% increase from the previous quarter.

APR is raising expectations for achieving an annual sales of 1 trillion won this year based on its performance in the US market, which is based on TikTok and celebrity-centered content marketing. APR's sales in the first quarter of this year were 266 billion won. Considering that the first and second quarters are typically off-seasons in the beauty industry, there is sufficient analysis that the possibility of surpassing 1 trillion won is high, with the addition of major consumer seasons such as Black Friday and Christmas in the second half.

The growth trend is also evident in the regional performance. As of the first quarter of this year, the sales proportion was 29% (76.8 billion won) in Korea, 27% (70.9 billion won) in the US, 11% (29.3 billion won) in Japan, and 11% (28.4 billion won) in Greater China, with the presence in major overseas markets gradually increasing. From this year, the company plans to strengthen its overseas sales base by expanding its distribution structure, which was centered online, to offline, and by expanding cooperation with local distributors in Europe, the Middle East, and South America. In Pyeongtaek, a third factory is under construction to directly produce anti-aging ingredients such as PDRN, a natural bio-regenerative material. The company is conducting phased research and pilot production with the goal of launching prototypes within the year. Through this, it has also announced its entry into the high-functionality cosmetics market based on ODM (Original Development Manufacturing) and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing).

The growth expectation is further fueled by news of dividend expansion, and the stock price is on a continuous rise. On this day, APR closed trading at 172,100 won. This is a 244% increase compared to last year's public offering price (50,000 won). The market capitalization is 6.5474 trillion won, surpassing LG Household & Health Care (5.1618 trillion won) and closely trailing AmorePacific (7.955 trillion won).

A beauty industry official said, "APR is growing into a brand that is not a one-time hit relying on K-beauty trends but has product power, content marketing, and distribution strategy," adding, "It will be a signal for the full-scale restructuring of the domestic beauty industry, which was centered around AmorePacific and LG Household & Health Care."


clean@fnnews.com Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter