CJ Olive Young, the No. 1 cosmetics company, is being challenged by rival companies Curly and Daiso. These two latecomers are trying to catch up with CJ Olive Young by offering low prices and fast delivery, including a lowest price challenge. As a result, competition in the cosmetics market is intensifying both online and offline.
According to the retail industry on Mar. 11, Curly recently announced that it will implement a lowest price challenge during this month. It is interpreted to be a response to Olive Young’s massive sale earlier this month.
Last month, Curly held a “Beauty Curly Festat,” the lowest sale in the industry, to promote its own beauty channel, “Beauty Curly.” The event featured deep discounts of up to 82% off on more than 3,000 products, with more than 100 items from over70 brands labeled with a “Best Price Challenge” sticker that rewarded shoppers for finding the lower price on the same item.
In particular, Curly drew attention by organizing an event with CJ Olive Young in mind. It actively claimed to be a competitor to Olive Young’s event by offering customers the difference as a credit if its final discounted price was higher than the discounted price of CJ Olive Young’s online mall. With Curly’s full-scale marketing competition against CJ Olive Young, it is said that competition in the cosmetics market has intensified.
Currently, Kurly is focusing on strengthening its Beauty Kurly brand as it has been instrumental in improving profitability. The cumulative transaction amount of Beauty Kurly has already exceeded $228 million (300 billion won), and it has helped the company attract 6 million orders and 4 million members. As a result, Beauty Kurly is becoming a key brand for Kurly.
Kurly’s losses have improved significantly since 2022, when it officially launched Beauty Kurly. By the third quarter of last year, the cumulative operating loss was reduced by 36% year-on-year, and the company posted two consecutive months of profit in December last year and January this year, raising expectations for improved performance.
In addition to offering its own early morning delivery service, Curly is also competing on its shipping costs by lowering the amount of free shipping to 20,000 won($15.19).
Daiso is currently competing with CJ Olive Young in the offline market, which makes up 90% of the overall market share. The company is emphasizing on its low-priced cosmetics, ranging from 1,000 won($0.76)) to 5,000 won($3.8) to attract customers. Daiso has around 1,500 stores, which is slightly more than CJ Olive Young’s 1,400 stores.
While Daiso is becoming a retail dinosaur by expanding its product lineup, its beauty products, which started selling in earnest since October 2021, are driving sales.
According to Daiso’s sales ranking, beauty and personal care products were the highest selling category from January to October of last year. They were followed by food and stationery goods in second and third place, respectively.
