Kolmar Korea Appoints Global Experts to Speed up Its Presence in North America
Kolmar Korea is accelerating its market expansion into the United States with its sunscreen products, having paved the road with the country’s certification of its products and a new R&D center there to better analyze and target the local consumer market, according to the country’s biggest sunscreen technology developer, Sunday.
The company is targetting the U.S. because of the huge sunscreen product market there. It is projected to have reached $2.6 billion last year, approximately 20 percent of the country’s overall cosmetic market valued at $12.4 billion, according to the company that cited market analyzer Euromonitor.
“Unlike Korea, where sunscreens are classified as cosmetics, the U.S. categorizes them as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, making regulatory compliance more stringent,” A company official said.
Products and brands with the company’s technologies have already begun gaining popularity in the U.S. Beauty of Joseon by Goodai Global and d’Alba by Bmonument, both developed in Korea in collaboration with Kolmar, are expanding their presences in the U.S. market “without special marketing efforts,” the official said. Relief Sun: Rice+Probiotics, the flagship sunscreen product by Beauty of Joseon, has surpassed 5 million sales worldwide, including in the U.S.
To boost the U.S. sales, the company has been expanding its R&D capability in the country. In March last year, the company opened Kolmar Laboratories in New Jersey. It worked closely with Kolmar Korea R&D Complex in Korea to accelerate its research on ingredients and formulations tailored to local consumers.
Kolmar Korea’s sunscreen sticks are being manufactured at the company’s color cosmetics factory in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this undated photo. Courtesy of Kolmar Korea
Kolmar Korea’s sunscreen sticks are being manufactured at the company’s color cosmetics factory in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this undated photo. Courtesy of Kolmar Korea
Once its second manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania is completed, the company believes it can increase its U.S. market penetration by expanding production capabilities from color cosmetics to skincare lines.
The company’s research facilities in Korea saw the latest update in 2022 when it built the UV Tech Innovation R&D Center to sharpen the edges of its UV protection products for domestic and global markets. The center, with 40 in-house researchers, subdivided their expertise into sunscreen, global UV formulation and base makeup.
“Unlike other original development manufacturing (ODM) companies, Kolmar is equipped with UV clinical testing equipment, reducing its reliance on external institutions for testing and thus allowing quicker and more accurate responses to needs from clients,” the official said.
The company’s inroad to the U.S. market began to open up in 2013 when it acquired OTC certification from the U.S. Food and Drug Adminiastration. The company then kept developing new technologies. In 2019, it developed a technology capable of blocking blue light and near-infrared rays.
It also introduced the world’s first stick-type sunscreen containing over 50 percent “moisture essence.” It now has over 50 patents in high-functionality UV protection technologies and 70 percent of the sunscreen product market share in Korea.
“A potential for growth in the North American market, including the U.S., is limitless as sunscreen functions are incorporated not only in sunscreens but also in BB creams and foundations,” the official said. “We plan to actively target the U.S., the world’s No. 1 beauty market, not content with just holding a 70 percent share in the domestic sunscreen product market.”
Original Article: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2024/04/129_367746.html
