Laneige is aiming to transition from a viral K-beauty brand into a household name in the UK after reporting more than 120% year-on-year growth in the region.
The South Korean beauty brand, best known in the UK market for its trendy Lip Sleeping Masks, plans to expand its reach via “meaningful” in-person experiences and by raising Brits awareness of its 31-year heritage in hydration skin care.
New product innovation by the brand is fuelling this strategy too.
A new product bridging the gap between skin care and make-up is launching on 12 September, which the brand believes could expand its UK consumer base more cross-generationally.
Smoothie Makeup Serum (pictured above) is a pore-blurring serum-primer powered by the brand’s patented Skin Gesso Technology, which claims to enhance make-up by delivering strong skin care benefits.
Our core [UK] audience is more skewed towards slightly younger consumers [Gen Z], but we have more than 30 years of heritage as a hydration expert in South Korea
“Over the past year, our biggest achievement in the UK has been translating the online hype around the brand into tangible, local experiences and sales, which means we expanded beyond our existing channel,” Dennis Sungsue Yang, General Manager at Amorepacific – the Korean conglomerate which owns Laneige, told Cosmetics Business.
“We will continue to communicate excitement behind our lip products and lip category, but also increase our communication so consumers can [explore our] skin care portfolio too.
“Rather than directly boosting our existing product portfolio, the launch of Smoothie Makeup Serum signals this new area of Laneige.
“In Asia, we already have strong categories representing this specific [skin care-make-up] hybrid area – we have cushion foundations and BB creams – but we have not yet really introduced these hybrid formats to the UK.”
Laneige is known as a household name in water science in its home country, having developed a range of water-rich products to nourish skin formulated with its patented Advanced Water Complexes.
Although some of these products are available here, the brand has cemented the Water Bank franchise in Asia as a go-to hydration range for dry and parched complexions.
Laneige is known for its Sleeping Lip Masks in a range of flavours
Winning over the UK market
Laneige entered the UK market during the Covid-19 pandemic, first available at luxury department store Selfridges, before expanding its presence
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