[100 Challenge] DanJi’s reading note_32

the birth of a hit
100 Years of Korean Brand Struggle
Author Yoo Seung-Jae
Publishing Wisdom House
Published on 09.30.

Although Park Ga-bun is the oldest cosmetic brand in Korea, Korea's modern cosmetic brand is the history of the Pacific. The Pacific Ocean is the old name of AmorePacific, which has grown into a global beauty company representing Asia beyond Korea with numerous mega-hit brands such as Amore, Mamonde, Laneige, Hera, IOPE, and Sulwhasoo.
Amore as a brand was born in 1964, but its parent company, Pacific, started about 20 years ago in September 1945. However, from the perspective of corporate history, the actual mother goes back to Changseong Store, which was established in 1932. In the 1930s, when Park Ga-bun was gaining popularity, Yoon Dok-jeong, the mother of Pacific founder Suh Sung-hwan, began manufacturing and selling camellia oil in Kaesong. At first, the store was a primitive form of domestic handicraft. Still, as it gradually gained popularity, it increased its production to skin lotion, copper radish (cream), and powder powder; it soon opened its store and named it Changseong Store. It was called a store, but Changseong was also used as the name of the product producer. Seo Sung-hwan, who helped his mother's business after graduating from ordinary school, inherited the business along with liberation and founded Pacific Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. to become a modern company.
The No. 1 brand in the Pacific was Merody, launched in 1948. At that time, they produced Pomade, cream, and lotion, and cream was the most popular among them. However, the Korean War began before the business was established correctly. Busan, which escaped the war, created 'ABC Pomade,' a hit brand that laid the foundation stone for the Pacific today. It was a successful case by reading the trends of the times. With liberation, the military-style shaved head forced during the Japanese colonial era was given the freedom to grow hair. And as suits began to take place, there was more work to adjust the hair. Since then, the pomade market, which had disappeared in the 1930s, has revived as young men and older people began to look cool with their hair.
ABC Pomade was very popular because it was ahead of other products in terms of quality, such as reducing stiff hair or shininess, which is a disadvantage of using conventional Pomade by using pajama oil, a plant-based material, not Vaseline, and reducing unpleasant scents by using imported flavorings. AmorePacific's current history says, "The products sent by train from Busan were all acquired on the spot by wholesalers waiting at the pick-up stand at Seoul Station, so there was no need for a separate logistics warehouse." With the succession of Pomade and Cream, the Busan evacuation period became a big business for the Pacific.
Hair products at the time, including ABC Pomade: It used pajama oil, a plant-based material, rather than Vaseline, to reduce dry hair and shine and to add imported flavorings; it gained popularity for its good quality. (Director of the National Folk Museum of Korea)
The Pacific Ocean, which moved to Seoul after the war, established a research institute and strived to research new products and improve quality, even with about 30 employees. In 1959, it partnered with France's Coty to launch Coty Powder. For my grandmother's generation, who lived in the 1960s, Coty dominated the domestic cosmetics market to the extent that it referred to powder or powder. Still, as a result, there were so many fake products that it was difficult to distinguish who was using the actual product.
The era of success with "Auntie Amore."
The 1960s was when Amore, the name of the Pacific Ocean today, was born. The launch of Amore is also significant in that it has established a new distribution structure that makes the Pacific Ocean into today's cosmetics empire. It is also meaningful because it started a brand representing Korea's cosmetics industry. The primary product sales flow from manufacturers to wholesalers to retailers to consumers was inevitably influenced by wholesalers. To overcome this, the Pacific Ocean implemented a designated store system before Amore when it launched a brand called "Oscar" in 1962.
Direct transactions with retail stores also reduced distribution and prevented counterfeit goods. However, this approach reveals its limitations shortly after it was launched. It would be nice if the designated stores specialized in cosmetics only in the Pacific. Still, since they had separate main jobs, their cosmetics and customer service knowledge was limited, and cosmetic sales were pushed back. It was an independently established distribution method, but it needed improvement.
What emerged as an alternative was door-to-door sales, starting at the time. A new product for door-to-door sales was planned to add power to a new distribution channel, and Amore was selected as the brand of this product line. In other words, Amore was a new weapon tailored to the recent distribution environment. Amore completed trademark registration in September 1964 and was immediately released with a new distribution policy.
The door-to-door sales method, which came to represent the Pacific Ocean, had several advantages. Salespeople with expertise in cosmetics met with customers in person, delivered product information, makeup methods, and popular trends, and developed intimacy with consumers. In addition to the advantage of conveniently purchasing products at home, consumers could also conduct credit transactions. As they established regular relationships, they could confidently purchase products free from psychological threats like fake products and rip-offs. In addition, it had a social and economic impact that greatly expanded new opportunities for women who still had limited opportunities to participate in financial activities in the 1960s.
The door-to-door salesperson, also called "Amore Lady," became a representative product that allowed the Pacific Ocean to lead the domestic cosmetics industry from the lead until the era of specialty stores opened in the late 1980s. The sales brand Amore gradually grew into a house brand representing the Pacific Ocean and had various brands under it. It is a little surprising, but the help of a beauty information magazine called "Hyangjang" was great for the growth of the Pacific and Amore.