Cosmetics Market Booms In South Korea

South Korea's cosmetics market has been growing 10.4 percent annually from 5.6 trillion won in 2006 to almost 9 trillion won today, outperforming the overall retail market's average growth rate of 6.1 percent, according to the Samsung Economic Research Institute. In a sign of its resilience, during the financial crisis in 2009 when Korea’s economy growth at just 0.3 percent, the cosmetics market still rose 11.8 percent. Market growth is driven by cosmetics use moving beyond women to include men, teenagers, and senior consumers and innovation as companies adopt medical technology, nutrition, and biotechnology-based solutions to enhance "effect and quality" of their products.