Judul : K-Beauty is changing—and LG H&H is losing ground
link : K-Beauty is changing—and LG H&H is losing ground
K-Beauty is changing—and LG H&H is losing ground
LG Household & Health Care (LG H&H) is struggling to assert its presence in the global K-beauty market. As of late, Korean beauty company APR has surpassed LG H&H’s market capitalization with its indie brand Medicube—effectively putting them in second place behind Amorepacific. Stagnant growth is a result of the sluggish North American market and lack of brand identity by experts.
According to industry sources on July 18, LG H&H’s market capitalization closing price on July 16 was 5.1462 trillion won, with APR being 6.3267 trillion won. Amorepacific had a closing price of 8 trillion won.
This placement swap between LG H&H and APR appears to be permanent for many industry insiders, indicating an underlying systematic change in K-beauty. Previously, LG H&H and Amorepacific would target the Chinese market, but now, the market is shifting towards North America, where a greater demand grows.
APR’s name is only growing in North America. Data from May 2025 shows 404,749 times Medicube was searched within Amazon’s beauty category. There were nearly 100,000 more searches compared to the second on demand brand: L’Occitane’s Sol de Janeiro (300,598 searches). Medicube’s search numbers were more than the combination of other K-beauty brands like Anua (120,000), Laneige (170,000), and Beauty of Joseon (100,000).
APR’s success is attributed to effective social network service (SNS) marketing that showed North American consumers there was more to K-beauty than it being budget-friendly. Last year, half of APR’s annual revenue came from global buyers. In the first-quarter of 2025, APR’s global revenue reached 190 billion won—up three times compared to the same time last year.
In contrast, LG H&H is still heavily reliant on the Chinese market. None of its subsidiary brands scored the board in the North American market. Last year, the company profited 566.2 billion, which is down 11/8% from the year prior. Their overall revenue from North America also decreased from 9.4% to 8.3%.
The lukewarm demand isn’t limited to North America. LG H&H struggles to draw the attention of their local consumer base, even with the acquisition of Avon and The Creme Shop. Some have said LG H&H’s decision to acquire local U.S. beauty brands have prevented them from utilizing K-beauty’s popularity. Yet again, it contrasts Amorepacific’s push of Laneige into the North American beauty markets.
Indie brands that led the K-beauty boom are well-suited for “discovery-based shopping” targeting the Millennials and Generation Z (MZ) generation, thanks to strong product quality and strong SNS marketing. In contrast, bigger corporations like LG H&H require more time to shift from trend to trend. In a report, Samsung Securities researcher Lee Ga-young noted, “It appears that no strategy has been able to outperform the marketing ways indie brands have. Unless a revolutionary change is made, indie K-beauty brands will continue leading the way in global markets.”
LG H&H’s business portfolio stagnation continues, with recovery from China’s market to continue being slow. Stock market predictions say that cosmetics revenue, which is more than 40% of China’s market, will fall by 15% by the end of 2025’s second-quarter. Duty-free channel sales are expected to contract by 27%, mainly due to a decrease in purchases from Chinese daigong (resellers). While this is a strategy to strengthen pricing power, the sluggish domestic consumption recovery in China has not been enough to offset the impact.
A k-beauty industry spokesperson commented, “Though LG H&H continues to dive into the North American market, their brand voice remains overlooked.” They added, “The company reportedly attempted to acquire several popular K-indie brands last year, but the deals fell through due to price differences. It came down to a lack of bold investment decisions.”
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