Ulta is latest U.S. retailer to expand K-beauty section

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Mar 7, 2017

Ulta Beauty is the newest retailer to jump on the K-beauty train. The Illinois-based beauty retailer has just added a dedicated K-beauty section to its online store and 300 of Ulta’s brick-and-mortar locations.

Starting Monday March 6, Ulta will release twenty-four products from six different K-Beauty brands: SkinRxLab, Thank You Farmer, ORG Skincare, CosRX, Botanic Farm and CLE. These brands are connected to Ulta via Landing International, a start-up beauty venture that seeks to bring small beauty brands to major retailers. Ulta has stocked a scattering of individual K-beauty products in the past, but this is the first time Ulta is introducing a full K-beauty-dedicated collection.

K-beauty is quickly making its mark in the United States. Nordstrom, Macy’s and Barneys have all launched dedicated sections within the last year. Even Target and Walmart have looked to Korea for new products, launching K-Beauty sections in stores across the United States.

The K-beauty movement shows no signs of slowing. Euromonitor has predicted that by 2019, 80% of all global skincare revenue will be from Korea. Over the course of 2015, Korea imported over $52 million worth of cosmetics into the United States, a 60% increase from the year prior.