[INTERVIEW] Qoo10 Japan chief sweeps Gen Zers with K-beauty

EBay Japan VP brings Korean sellers to global market

By Ko Dong-hwan

E-commerce platform operator eBay Japan has been connecting Korean beauty product makers with Japanese consumers. Its key platform, Qoo10 Japan, has grown into the leading destination for young, beauty-conscious shoppers in Japan.

Koo Ja-hyun, vice president of eBay Japan, oversees Qoo10 Japan with both satisfaction and confidence in its continued growth. Megawari, the platform’s latest quarterly sales event which concluded earlier this month, set multiple record-breaking figures, highlighting its growing popularity.

Boosted by the records, the Korean leader wants to grow the platform further by introducing more Korean beauty firms and their products to the platform for Japanese consumers. The VP, currently residing in Tokyo, believes people in the two countries have a lot in common in terms of culture. This allows him to understand the Japanese market and how to target it with Korean products.

“I once went to a K-pop concert in Japan which was packed with thousands of fans. When the Korean artists asked in Japanese ‘are you having fun?’ people shouted ‘ne!’ instead of ‘hai!’ (both meaning ‘yes’ in Korean and Japanese, respectively)” Koo said told Korean reporters during the Qoo10 Japan K-Beauty Mega Conference in Seoul on March 14.

“Japanese, compared to other nationals, probably understand and root for the Korean culture and products best. And compared to the U.S. or China where there are multiple ethnic groups, Japan has less of such complication that allows us to better focus on consumer groups.”

Koo unveiled eBay Japan’s latest plan to promote Korean indie beauty brands on Qoo10 Japan during the conference. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of California-based eBay, aims to shortlist 200 out of 500 Korean brands this year and elevate them to Japan’s top beauty brands through a four-step systematic incubation program.

Spearheaded by Koo, who joined eBay Japan in 2018 and led the acquisition of Qoo10 Japan the same year, the program is designed to help Korean firms overcome challenges in entering the Japanese market, including registration, translation, logistics, marketing and customer service.

Considering how fast K-beauty has gained traction in Japan and how eagerly Japanese consumers want new products and brands from Korea, expanding Korean sellers’ market to Japan is critical, according to eBay Japan. The company added K-beauty brands’ success in the country including Anua, TirTir, Bio Heal Boh and Laneige "translates to Qoo10 Japan’s growth."

“Our physical closeness to Korea allows easy travel between the two countries, an advantage for us in monitoring the Korean beauty industry. We have our business roots in Korea in Gmarket (an e-commerce platform which eBay acquired in 2009) and 50 percent of our platform engineer workforce are stationed in Korea. Our infrastructure in Korea allows us to support Korean sellers on our platform better than any other company, while our management has been localized 100 percent in Japan,” Koo said.

“My ultimate goal is to make in Japan 20 Korean brands with a market value of 100 billion yen ($667 million), 100 brands with a market value of 10 billion yen and 1,000 brands with a market value of 1 billion yen in three years. I have seen in Japan other beauty brands that made 500 billion won ($340 million) to 1 trillion won in sales, 5 percent of which is operating profit. These companies saw their valuation jump 20 to 25 times from the previous year. With this speed of growth, I'm sure my goal is feasible.”

'Megawari should continue'

This year’s first Megawari, held from Feb. 28 to March 12, saw its total transaction amount, or gross merchandise value, reach 500 billion won, a 25 percent year-on-year increase. The online event attracted 3.5 million consumers to purchase 450,000 different types of items. Koo said the event saw 6 million unique visitors to Qoo10 on the first day alone and, during an hour of live commerce that day, 73,000 items were sold, with one particular brand setting a sales record of 4.3 billion won.

Megawari opens wallets of those with Qoo10 Japan membership who now number over 25 million. Since Qoo10 Japan’s launch in 2010, the number has been increasing particularly among Japanese consumers in their teens to 20s. Behind the trend, eBay Japan bet all in on beauty, giving up all other retail categories.

“In the past five years, our K-beauty business grew 64 percent each year. Compared to seven years ago when we acquired Qoo10 Japan, our beauty business has grown 10 times. In the past 15 years, we outpaced our rivals by growing three to four times faster than the average pace of Japan's beauty market,” Koo said.

“According to market research, Qoo10 Japan has secured the largest share in Japan’s online beauty market. Megawari has become more popular than Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We have even surpassed Japan’s Big 3 — Amazon, Rakuten and Yahoo — which dominate virtually all categories in the country’s e-commerce market except beauty. It is no joke that people wait for Megawari every quarter. And Qoo10 Japan has become a new standard in Japan when deciding which K-beauty brands are turning heads.”

Koo said that Korean beauty products sell well in Japan because their prices are affordable and their marketing attracts consumers. The products are now sold at broader parts of offline markets beyond convenience stores, including drugstores, supermarkets and department stores.

“It’s not the prefix ‘K’ that sells. In many cases, consumers find out after purchasing their products that their favorite ones are from Korea. And Japanese consumers are known for choosing carefully,” Koo said.

Koo plans to expand K-beauty products’ markets beyond Japan. He will expand the platform's products to health supplements, which he dubbed “inner beauty,” and also introduce fashion and everyday items on the platform as long as they cater to Japan’s young age groups.

“We have never promoted our company to Korea until now. We focused on doing our job. But I think we can come out now to Korea and share our robust performance in Japan,” Koo said.

“Competition in the global beauty market is not brand versus brand. It’s supply chain versus supply chain. We get supplied with Korea’s globally popular beauty brands. We work with globally renowned original design manufacturer companies like Cosmax which are like roots to K-beauty. We have many partner companies for logistics. And eBay Japan is taking care of sales and marketing. This is the competitiveness of our supply chain in Japan which can further grow to become the world’s second-largest beauty market next to the U.S.”

Who is Koo Ja-hyun?

Koo became vice president of eBay Japan in 2022. He became the company’s VP and global senior director the previous year. His promotions came largely in recognition of his contribution to growing Qoo10 Japan in Japan's beauty market. He joined eBay Japan in 2018.

Before joining eBay Japan, he led business strageties, planning and marketing at eBay’s regional offices for Asia-Pacific and Korea. Before that, he worked for an investment bank, a global electronic company and a consulting firm.

Koo graduated Yonsei University School of Business and Harvard Business School.