Belport is the first European-style perfumeryin South Korea. Korea doesn’t really have aperfumery retail channel as it exists in westernEuropean markets like France, Germany, Spain orItaly. Or at least, it didn’t until the arrival of theBelport chain.In the Korean C&T market, premium

cosmetics are usually retailed in departmentstores, which offer international and Asian luxurybrands at brand counters or via a shop-in-shoppresence, or in so-called “single-brand stores”. These single-brand stores are retail chains

operated by domestic beauty brands and sell onlythe product ranges of that particular brand, muchlike The Body Shop (L’Oréal) or Yves Rocher inwestern Europe. The best known Korean single-brand retailers include Innisfree and Etude House(both AmorePacific), The Face Shop (LGHousehold and House Care), Skin Food, Missha(Able C&C) and Nature Republic, but there arescores of other beauty brands that also operatetheir own store chains, like Holika Holika

(Enprani), Tony Moly, Too Cool for School, Clioor VDL.In the mass market, the rapidly evolving

drugstore sector is playing an increasinglyimportant role in beauty retail but thisdistribution channel primarily focuses on massmarket and masstige brands. There is anotherperfumery chain in Korea: AmorePacific’sAritaum. However, Aritaum only sellsAmorePacific’s own beauty brands such as Iope,La Neige, Illi Hanbang or Mise en Scène.

European inspirationBelport, on the other hand, was the first beautyretailer to introduce a range of internationalcosmetics brands in Korea. The companydescribes itself as the country’s first “beauty multi-store”. With this retail concept, the companyessentially launched a new distribution channel:European-style niche perfumery. In its stores Belport sells more than 80 premium

beauty brands from across the globe. Almost all ofthese are niche brands that are difficult to find inKorea and a number of beauty brands areexclusive to Belport stores. In addition, Belportsells exclusive Korean skin care and the retaileralso has a range of own label brands in variousproduct categories, including Colorneer andHello my name is in colour cosmetics, and D28and Avery in face care. Belport is also the official

BELPORT RETAIL PROFILE

May 2016 cosmetics business markets 5

Belport: Fact file

Founded September 2014

Address 570 Samsung-dong, Gangnam-gu,Seoul, South Korea

Contact +82 2 080 508 6631

Website belport.co.kr

FINDINGITSNICHE

Annemarie Kruse discovers how SouthKorean beauty and fragrance store Belport has brought European-style niche perfumery to the country, and in the process, created anew distribution channel

Belport has sevenstandalone stores andsells more than 80premium beauty brandsfrom around the globe,most of which are hardto find elsewhere inSouth Korea

Copyright © 2015 HPCi Media. This publication may not be distributed without prior permission.

RETAIL PROFILE BELPORT

Korean distributor for Canadian colour cosmeticsbrand Cargo Cosmetics (TPR Holdings) andItalian skin and body care brand Bottega Verde.And the retailer’s high end niche beauty concept

is proving to be very successful indeed. The firstBelport store opened in September 2014 onSeoul’s trendy Garosu-gil shopping street. Oneyear later, the chain has grown to include sevenstandalone stores and 13 outlets located in upscaledepartment stores. The first international Belportoutlet in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shoppingarea opened just a couple of months ago.

Flagship innovationsThe Garosu-gil flagship with its three retail floorsis the largest Belport in the country. In the basement is a spa area which features

brands like Kevyn Aucoin (Manzanita Capital)from the US; Estée Lauder-owned French brandDarphin (the Garosu-gil Belport store is one oftwo official Darphin spas in Seoul); niche spa labelOmorovicza from Hungary; Sepai from Spain; andtwo Swiss premium brands, La Colline andBellefontaine. Customers can book a number offace and body care treatments with Darphin, LaColline and Omorovicza.The ground floor of the store is dedicated to

fragrances and colour cosmetics. Perfumerybrands on offer include premium niche labels likeOlfactive Studio; The Different Company;Diptyque (Manzanita Capital) and L’ArtisanParfumeur (Puig); Fueguia 1833 from Argentina;and the UK’s Jo Malone (Estée Lauder), which ispresent with its own retail area. On the colour cosmetics side, in addition to

Cargo Cosmetics, Belport sells Stila and theBrowGal from the US, Glossip Milano (ApparelGroup) from Italy, Bourjois (Coty) from Franceand Zuii Organic from Australia. Glossip and Zuiiare exclusive Belport brands, while the nail polishline-up includes Uslu Airlines from Germany;Deborah Lippmann from the US; Korean brandTrou de Lapin; and Belport’s own label rangeHello my name is.The first floor is dedicated to skin and body

care, hair care and men’s products. Since Belport isthe official Korean distributor for Bottega Verde,the retailer’s flagship store sells the brand’s entireportfolio. Other skin and body care brands includeDermalogica and Glamglow (Estée Lauder) fromthe US; Korres from Greece; Botanicus from theCzech Republic; UK brand Cowshed; and Payot(LBO France), Phyto, Eugène Perma andCaudalie from France. Then things become even more niche-oriented:

the brand line-up also features Casmara fromSpain; Skin & Co Roma, Abeauty Kurni andLaino from Italy; Heathcote & Ivory’s KaffeFassett from the UK; Lollia from the US; and Sur Pur from Swizerland. Korean skin care brandson offer include Repére, Dr. Young andFreeze:24/7 and there are several internationalorganic niche brands, like Botáni from Australia,Antipodes from New Zealand and Kahina GivingBeauty from the US. Home fragrances are represented by Thai

brands such as Erb, Princess and Karmakamet and

men’s care brands include Bluebeard’s Revengefrom the UK, Jack Black from the US and razorsand wet-shaving gear from Mühle in Germany.

Online and onwardsIn addition to its bricks-and-mortar stores,Belport also operates a successful online storewhich received a prestigious digital media awardin 2015, the “&Award” in the SpecializedShopping category. Each month the retailer hasspecial offers that are only available online, such asgifts with purchase or discounted prices. Although the majority of Belport’s stores are

located in Seoul and other large cities – Belport isdefinitely an urban perfumery chain – thecompany’s niche beauty concept is proving to bevery successful. In just 15 months Belport hasopened over 20 stores and the company isconstantly adding new brands to its alreadyimpressive brand line-up. This also means thatBelport is becoming an attractive distributor forinternational beauty brands looking to enter theKorean retail market – which in turn will mostlikely mean further expansion for the company.

Belport isbecoming anattractivedistributor forinternationalbeauty brandslooking to enterthe Korean retailmarket

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6 cosmetics business markets May 2016

Belport Itaewon: a fragrance concept storeBelport’s newest outlet, located in Seoul’s upmarket shopping districtItaewon, is a high profile fragrance concept store. Although this Belportoutlet also sells some skin and body care, including Korean niche brandsKoy and Blossom Jeju, the primary focus lies on niche perfumes and homefragrances. The spacious ground floor area features brands like Miller Harris,Atkinsons, Jo Malone, Fueguia 1833, Olfactive Studios, Diptyque, MaisonFrancis Kurkdjian and K. Hall Studio. And the first floor of the Itaewon offersa café area serving French-style macarons and other patisseries, coffee andtea and a selection of soft drinks.

Belport also offers arange of own labelproducts, including skincare line D28 (above)

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