Social-Another Success in K-beauty, ‘kaja’

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[Social]

Another Success in K-beauty, ‘kaja’

by Hwang,se-yeon, Social reporter, charlevoix@mju.ac.kr

On the 13th (local time), the streets of Lower Manhattan, New York were full of pink. Young people dressed up as if they were at the party, openening a package of pink-ton cosmetics and dying their cheeks and lips pink. It was the official launch site of the K-beauty brand "Kaja," which was co-developed by the French largest beauty retailer Sephora and the Korean cosmetics company Mimibox. This is the first time that Sephora, which opened in 1969, co-develops products with cosmetics companies and distributes them.

Beauty startup Mimibox has signed a partnership agreement with Sephora to create a brand called kaja. The brand started out from the problem that although the interest in K-beauty is growing, the specialty of Korean cosmetics is not fully communicated in the global market. So the two companies have started developing K-beauty brands that reflect U.S. consumers and cultural characteristics with the goal of 'Localizing K-beauty'.

The name 'kaja' is said to have come from the pronunciation of snack in Korean because it seems easy to pronounce while eating snacks. The name became the final brand because Sephora also wanted an Asian name. Kaja's font was also made with Korean font.

The design of Kaja's cosmetics began with a philosophy that the product’s details should be important and easy. There was a perception that K-beauty is not very good at design or packaging, so they also designed a package that fits the concept of the product separately and put a color tray in the product so that consumers can easily find the color they want. From transparent natural to bold expression‎ of skin, color lines of Kaja brand are constructed to suit all skin tone and consumer tastes. It is designed as a mini-size design and can be easily spread or blended with fingers during activities. It also plans to offer new experiences such as unique gel-type molding, elastic blushees, and silky lip colors.

To look at some products of Kaja, there are Cheeky Stamp Blendable Blush ($24), Don’t Settle Concealer ($19), Beauty Bento Bouncy Shimmer Eyeshadow Trio in Orange Blossom ($21), 2’s Company Nude Lipstick & Liner Duo in Rich Chocolate ($16).

Not only that, while advertising, they also used various races of people as advertising models, which implies that kaja provides cosmetics to various people. A total of 47 products are said to be made up of products that can accommodate different races and ages.

So how did the Mimi box succeed in collaboration with Sephora? This was the result of the successful strategy of the Mimibox starting from the past. In the past, if you became a member of the Mimi box and pay a subscription fee, you would receive "new cosmetics" that experts can pick out from the cosmetics that are suitable for you. If the monthly subscription fee of 16,500 won is paid, the company sends a box of the latest cosmetics once a month, worth 70,000 to 80,000 won.

Mimibox did what the marketing department should do, including online promotion of a brand of cosmetics, TV exposure, and results reports, and received the price in kind. The free cosmetics products are made up of cosmetics that are suitable for each season, and boxes are distributed. And this innovative project worked. It made $13.1 million (1.3 billion KRW) in annual sales just a year after it started with $33.5 million (35 million KRW) in capital. In 2013, the company posted 5 billion won (5.0 billion dollars) and recorded a rapid growth rate of more than 400 percent. In 2014, two years after the company was established, it established a branch in San Francisco and has developed a strategy to enter global markets centered on the U.S. Due to its rapid growth, it has received investments from Y Combinator (YC), which is the first Korean startup company to develop Airbnb and Dropbox. Last year, it earned 143 billion won from global venture capitalists such as Goodwater Capital, Formation Group, and Altos Ventures, making it the number one start-up company in Korea. And since 2015, the company has made profits by launching a cosmetics manufacturing business. It has expanded its global presence by manufacturing its own brands such as 'Immimi', 'Pony Effect', 'Nooni' and 'Itu Career' along with Beauty YouTube Pony.

"The collective talent of Mimibox and Cella has been able to use synergies to develop new texture and original color cosmetics collection of manufacturing methods," said Alison Han, senior vice president of product planning.

Kaja is said to be out of stock in all U.S. cells and enjoying huge popularity. Thanks to such popularity, Sephora's skin care team also offered to work with Mimibox. We look forward to seeing more K-beauty's performance in the future.