K-beauty’s new race runs on 30-minute delivery apps

K-beauty’s newest battlefield is delivery speed, and food delivery services now set the pace.

Korea’s leading food delivery apps — Baemin and Coupang Eats — have linked their rider networks and customer bases to nearby discount beauty stores. They now deliver to customers’ doorsteps in about 30 minutes and outpace CJ Olive Young on speed.

Last week, Baemin, set to come under Uber through its parent company, added warehouse-style outlet Off Beauty to its platform. The chain delivers about 4,000 products in roughly half an hour from 30 stores in Seoul, Busan and other cities.

"We expect to capture cosmetics demand through our existing delivery infrastructure and app users," a Baemin official said. "With Off Beauty, we plan to widen our quick-commerce beauty range and give customers more price options."

Off Beauty keeps prices low by buying surplus stock, pre-redesign packaging and near-expiry products directly from manufacturers, allowing Baemin’s once-narrow beauty lineup to reach rock-bottom prices.

Off Beauty first landed on Coupang Eats in June, where delivery is free for Coupang’s Wow members. "Our partnership with Coupang Eats turns our wide product range and store access into fast delivery," an Off Beauty official said.

The beauty retailer runs about 50 stores today and aims for 100. Each new store gives Baemin and Coupang Eats riders another launch point and widens both apps’ delivery maps.

Beauty fills the gaps food leaves behind, industry watchers said. Meal orders spike at lunch and dinner, but cosmetics orders arrive steadily all day and keep riders busy in between. They also prove easier to handle than groceries, with longer shelf lives and smaller sizes, observers added.

The rivalry between the two delivery apps is only half the story, however.

The larger clash pits both against CJ Olive Young in a swelling online market, which claimed 41.4 percent of Korean cosmetics sales last year, according to government data.

Olive Young rang up 2.94 trillion won ($2.2 billion) of the 13.72 trillion won Korea’s beauty retail market generated online and offline in the first half, a record 21.5 percent share, CJ’s half-year report shows.

The nation’s dominant beauty retailer pioneered same-day beauty delivery in 2018 with Oneul Deurim, Korean for “delivered today,” albeit at a slower pace than the delivery apps.

The service ships from roughly 1,360 stores and urban fulfillment centers, usually within three hours, and its fastest tier averaged 55 minutes this year. Oneul Deurim handled 19.35 million deliveries last year and nearly half of Olive Young’s shipments in the first half.

Olive Young’s wide curated range, beauty expertise and nationwide stores, all linked to its online mall, keep drawing shoppers who want detailed guidance on skin type, ingredients or shade. The retailer’s artificial intelligence-powered skin diagnosis service is now moving to its app too.

"Cosmetics have become a core category that pulls in customers across all kinds of platforms, and competitiveness will hinge on how well each platform channels its customers and strengths into beauty spending," one industry official said.

The official pointed to a growing field of challengers that have already fused beauty with their core strengths, from online grocer Market Kurly to discount-store chain Daiso and fashion platform Musinsa.