K-beauty shops go off-script from warehouses to pharmacies

In Korean beauty retail, Olive Young stands tallest, with 1,367 stores and counting, though that footprint buys no immunity from shifts in the industry. Over the past few years, a new generation of beauty shops has stepped in to compete for K-beauty's growing customer base, launched mostly by retail giants like Shinsegae, Lotte and even Musinsa, with each running curated multi-brand stores with its own spin. Yet rising alongside them is another kind of retailer that tilts away from the familiar

2026-08-09 14:55:15:00

KT&G raises outlook after record first-half revenue

KT&G delivered double-digit profit growth for a fourth straight quarter, posting record first-half revenue as its profitability strategy and robust overseas sales drove the gains, the South Korean tobacco maker said Thursday. In the April-June period, consolidated revenue rose 9.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion), while operating profit climbed 18.5 percent to 414.5 billion won. Revenue for the first half reached about 3.4 trillion won, a record for the six-month st

2026-08-06 17:20:13:00

Homeplus reopens ahead of full operations next week

Homeplus said Thursday it is starting its reopening with a soft launch today, drawing on the cash injection that kept its rehabilitation alive, with a court decision on the plan just four weeks away. The retailer said the much-needed 200 billion won ($141 million) debtor-in-possession loan from Meritz Financial Group has landed in its accounts, three weeks after the court reversed its decision to terminate Homeplus's rehabilitation once the loan agreement came through. "We plan to quickly wrap u

2026-08-06 14:18:34:00

APR eyes W3tr revenue as global sales surge

South Korean beauty tech firm APR said Wednesday that both sales and profit more than doubled to quarterly records, with overseas sales now accounting for over 90 percent of revenue. Consolidated revenue in the April-June period rose 134.2 percent to 767.5 billion won ($540 million) from a year earlier, while operating profit climbed 134.5 percent to 190.6 billion won, both record highs, lifting operating margin to 24.8 percent. The company also notched its best six-month stretch, with first-hal

2026-08-05 14:37:05:00

Coupang posts steep Q2 loss on levy despite sales growth

E-commerce giant Coupang posted its largest quarterly operating loss since its New York listing in 2021, as a fine tied to last year's data breach swamped otherwise solid revenue growth. The company said Wednesday that revenue for the April-June period rose 10 percent on-year on a constant currency basis to $8.9 billion. The operating loss widened to $556 million from an operating profit of $149 million a year earlier. Combined with the first quarter's $242 million operating loss, Coupang's firs

2026-08-05 11:50:47:00

Starbucks dethroned in card spending after 'Tank Day' campaign

Rival coffee chains are chipping away at Starbucks Korea's market lead in the fallout from its "Tank Day" controversy, payment data showed Tuesday, with Twosome Place having overtaken Starbucks in monthly card sales for a third straight month. Twosome Place logged an estimated 117 billion won ($82 million) in card sales last month, some 7 billion won more than Starbucks' 110 billion won, according to IGAWorks' Mobile Index. Twosome Place has outsold Starbucks every month since May, taking the le

2026-08-04 14:09:28:00

Daewoo E&C Q2 profit jumps over 180%

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Tuesday its second-quarter operating profit nearly tripled from a year earlier, as a lower cost ratio and stronger building-segment margins lifted profit. The builder posted operating profit of 232.3 billion won ($163 million) in the April-June period, up 182.6 percent on-year, while net profit swung up to 167.2 billion won from a loss in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 10.1 percent to 2.04 trillion won. For the first half, cumulative revenue came

2026-08-04 10:48:53:00

Jeju racing park hits 3 million visitors on AI, tourism boost

DSM Corporation, a South Korean company spanning mobility, energy and entertainment, said Monday that its smart racing theme park, 9.81 Park Jeju, on Jeju Island has drawn more than 3 million paying visitors over six years. The company's Monolith division, which runs the park's more than 20 activities including gravity racing, said visitors passed 3 million as of June, since opening in July 2020. Actual foot traffic, including cafe and facility-only visitors, is likely higher, the company said.

2026-08-03 17:22:37:00

Korean Air, Archer team up on military air taxi

Korean Air is teaming up with US electric aircraft-maker Archer Aviation to turn its air taxi into a military transport platform, targeting troop deployment, medical evacuation and rescue missions, as Seoul seeks a foothold in the emerging defense advanced air mobility market. Under the cooperation framework, Korean Air will lead the military conversion and systems integration, while Archer supplies technical support and shares its airworthiness-certification experience. Korean Air plans to con

2026-08-03 14:23:47:00

Less China, more America: K-beauty's big two report strong Q2

Korea's two largest cosmetics companies, Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care, posted double-digit second-quarter growth, much of it a story of waning reliance on China and waxing sales in North America. Amorepacific Group on Thursday reported 1.25 trillion won ($873 million) in revenue and 122.8 billion won in operating profit, up 14.6 percent and 53.3 percent from a year earlier. Its main affiliate, Amorepacific, saw profit surge 59 percent. The bulk of that gain came from abroad, where

2026-07-31 16:39:41:00