7 february 2025
Maybelline New York to exit South Korea as global beauty brands continue to withdraw
Maybelline New York, the popular American makeup brand, has announced its withdrawal from the Korean market, marking yet another exit in a growing trend of international beauty brands pulling out of the country.
Maybelline New York to exit South Korea by 2025
American makeup brand Maybelline New York has announced its withdrawal from the South Korean market. The brand has recently closed its Naver Store and is in the process of fully exiting the Korean market by the first half of 2025.
A representative from L’Oréal Korea (the parent company of Maybelline New York) explained that this decision is part of a strategy to concentrate on brands with strong growth potential that better align with the sophisticated taste of Korean consumers.
Growing challenges for international beauty brands in Korea
This exit is part of a growing trend of international beauty brands withdrawing from Korea in recent years. In 2021, both Vichy and Shu Uemura stopped operations in the country, followed by French perfume brand Atelier Cologne in 2023, and hair care brand Wella last week.
Even luxury retailers have been impacted. Sephora, the beauty retail chain owned by LVMH, left Korea in May last year after starting operations in 2019 and last year the French group also decided to terminate operations for its luxury skincare brand Fresh due to poor sales. The luxury Japanese makeup brand Three has also quietly withdrawn from the Korean market.
Source: 비즈한국.
Words: © 2025 Odile Monod.
Visuals: L’Oréal Korea.
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