ⓒ Beauty Makers

Now it’s time to take a look at a Korean business bringing about changes in the global economy with some new ideas. 

Today, we’re going to introduce you to Beauty Makers, a developer of a cosmetics production platform. Let’s hear from company CEO Choi Jang-hyuk. 

Established in November 2018, Beauty Makers provides a useful service to help anyone make cosmetic products easily. The cosmetics market has changed rapidly in recent years, with individuals attempting to make beauty products on their own. But in the process, they face many legal and technical issues. Beauty Makers’ cosmetics production platform is designed to address these problems in cooperation with a number of business partners of cosmetics makers in Korea. 

At present, we offer our service mostly in Korea. But we plan on providing our service platform globally. We also hope to contribute to growth and expansion of relevant industries and the K-beauty market. 

Choi, a digital service planner, founded the company jointly with Yoo Seung-hyuk, who has experience in manufacturing various types of cosmetics products. Armed with extensive experience in their own respective field, the two men saw great potential in the fast-growing K-beauty market and the local cosmetics infrastructure with a solid client base. They developed a new platform that enables individuals to turn their ideas into actual products. 

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea’s cosmetics exports in 2020 jumped 15.7 percent on-year to hit a record high of 7.5 billion US dollars. The positive result is attributable to a growing preference for K-beauty, despite the fact that lockdown measures around the world have restricted outdoor activities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The cosmetics market in Korea has grown 15 percent each year, and the number of cosmetic brands has increased eleven times over the last decade to reach 16-thousand. This shows that not only traditional cosmetics makers but individuals and other industries have also started producing cosmetic goods. There are 3,600 manufacturers of K-beauty products, about four times more than all of Europe. We started this business in the hopes of connecting Korean cosmetic manufacturers boasting top-notch tech with individuals in Korea as well as producers in other countries. 

Anyone may attempt to make cosmetics through Beauty Makers, which offers a one-stop service online, from production inquiries to receipt of goods. Also, the service is easy to use. If you want to make a new beauty product with your own idea, you can access the company’s website or app and choose the category your potential product belongs to. Using the database of some 2,000 cosmetics makers registered on the website, you can calculate an estimated cost right away and apply for a sample product. 

Beauty Makers provides consulting on business registration, carries out the relevant work on behalf of a client and does other jobs related to product packaging design, marketing and even consignment sales. This efficient system helps people start a cosmetics business conveniently and effectively. 

Even if individuals have a great idea about new cosmetics, it is quite difficult to actually make a product. Dealing with legal or personnel affairs is a challenging task that takes both time and money. Our platform can resolve this problem. Through our system, individuals can establish a cosmetic business with little capital. They may need to receive legal advice, figure out the market situation, learn how to manufacture goods, create a product design, find dealers or export their goods overseas. Our service is tailored to these individual needs. 

Beauty Makers have released its own products in cooperation with influencers and beauty specialists. Through this company, nine celebrities have launched 13 products so far. The products were sold in the form of crowdfunding. The first successful product was “Sea-salt Deep Cleansing Shampoo.” Its first batch sold out, prompting the company to produce more and launch another new product. Also, a cream product developed by a famous beauty YouTuber has established itself as the company’s hit product. 

Beauty Makers has opened an offline place called “Maker Space” in Garosu-gil in southern Seoul so that many more people can access the company easily. The company hopes that the place, where visitors can ask various questions about cosmetics production, will serve as a community for those who work in cosmetics-related areas.  

Some people first made cosmetic products without understanding cosmetics production overall. As problems arose, they came to us to seek advice. Some products use materials that are unfit for exports. Some others are marked incorrectly because manufacturers have little legal knowledge about export standards. Designs or containers may not be appropriate for the products themselves. All these shortcomings may cause disputes. 

For those who had problems like these, we explained to them the entire process of cosmetic production and the ways to remedy the issues. They were really grateful to us, saying that they would not have wasted their time and money if they had met us earlier. Hearing that, we felt sorry but we also found our work rewarding. 

It is said that lipstick sales go up during economic recessions. But this long-held theory didn’t really work in the cosmetics industry last year, when the entire world reeled from the pandemic. Rather, many consumers turned to skincare products as they had to wear face masks all day long and therefore needed to take extra care of their skin. While the sales of color cosmetics decreased, those of eye makeup products became popular because they can make users more visible to others, especially at non-face-to-face meetings that use video conference platforms.

Beauty Makers have moved fast to keep up with the changing trends, thanks to its system that enables people to make cosmetics themselves. As a result, the company produced positive results last year to boost its presence in the K-beauty industry. 

Thankfully, we got a lot of good results in 2020. For example, we received a seed investment from “N15 Partners” that supports hardware-manufacturing startups. We were selected for the “Pre-TIPS” program operated by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups that supports tech startups like us. After ranking fourth at the “B-Startup Challenge” joined by some other 230 startups, we were able to secure investment from Busan Bank. 

Having completed our export to Russia, we’re now preparing to do so with the U.S. and Indonesia. If more and more cosmetic products are made through our platform, Beauty Makers will hopefully build trust as a reliable brand and conduct marketing and sales activities together with cosmetics makers. This is our goal. 

Beauty Makers provides a venue, where people can show new products to consumers by using their own expertise and improving the inconvenience or shortcomings of products available on the market. The company reflects different needs for beauty in various parts of the world and proposes a new direction for K-beauty.