'MUSINSA Beauty' Threatening 'Ollyoung'.. Preview of 'Festa in Seongsu' This Year [Report]

[Financial News] On the afternoon of the 28th, as I entered an alley in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, a large space decorated in pink caught my eye. MUSINSA unveiled the 'MUSINSA Beauty Festa in Seongsu' pop-up, which will be held for three days from the 29th, to the media first that day. A duplex space of 660 pyeong with booths from 40 brands was set up.
The large offline beauty event 'MUSINSA Beauty Festa in Seongsu', which started for the first time last year, was planned to allow customers to directly experience products by curating beauty brands within the MUSINSA online store. In particular, this Festa combined the pop-ups that were previously dispersed into three categories into one large space and focused on 'experiential content' to target the Z generation's tendency to 'consume while playing'.
Upon entering, the first thing that caught my eye was the 'Classroom' booth where you can diagnose your personal color, skin type, etc., and receive recommendations for suitable products. Also, on-site, different classes are held daily on topics such as the recently trending gua sha massage. On the right side of the event hall, the 'What's in My Pouch' zone, where a promotional video of MUSINSA Beauty featuring Karina from the girl group aespa is playing on a large display, was arranged. In this space, an event is held where visitors can reveal their beauty pouches and upload them on social media (SNS) to receive MUSINSA money.
In the 2nd-floor space, booths of individual brands in categories such as △Skincare & Makeup △Fragrance △Hair & Body, each prepared experiential content matching their characteristics, were lined up. At the skincare brand booth themed 'sebum removal', experiential content was conducted where black balls among transparent balls are removed with a vacuum cleaner, and products are provided according to the number.
MUSINSA is accelerating its expansion into the beauty field by adding the use of offline spaces to its core business of online fashion traffic. Since its launch at the end of 2021, MUSINSA Beauty's transaction amount increased 9.6 times last year, and the number of buyers increased 5.6 times. The transaction amount in the first quarter of this year (January to March) increased more than twice compared to the same period last year. The number of brands entering the store increased about three times compared to the launch time (2021) to about 2000. The offline space 'MUSINSA Beauty Space 1' located in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, serves as an offline base for brands without stores, with an average of 16,000 visitors per month.
A MUSINSA official said, "This 'MUSINSA Beauty Festa in Seongsu' focused on experiential content that highlights the characteristics of each brand, aiming for differentiation from other beauty festas," adding, "We will provide a broader offline experience to customers through new brands and planned products that can only be seen at MUSINSA Beauty."
Meanwhile, as MUSINSA expands into the beauty sector centered on fashion, its consolidated sales for the second quarter of this year were 377.7 billion won, and operating profit was 41.3 billion won, increasing by 30.7% and 22.6% respectively compared to the same period last year. Net profit for the period surged 5.6 times to 40.8 billion won compared to a year ago. For the first half overall, sales were 670.5 billion won, and operating profit was 58.9 billion won.
Park Junmo, CEO of MUSINSA, said, "As a result of strengthening online and offline competitiveness, we achieved balanced growth in the second quarter," and emphasized, "We will invest in new growth areas such as global, beauty, lifestyle, and e-commerce to respond flexibly to market changes."
localplace@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Hyeonji