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Craze for Cushion, which started in Korea, is now drawing worldwide attention and revolutionising the makeup routine for women around the world.
Amore Pacific Group said on Tuesday that the global sales of Cushion products under its brands are expected to exceed 50 million units on a cumulative basis during January 2015. With the total sales of Cushion products increasing 105 percent year on year (YoY) to 26 million units, an AmorePacific Group’s Cushion was sold every 1.2 seconds in 2014. In particular, the sales of the Cushion products outside of Korea surged a whopping approximately 140 percent YoY and led a remarkable growth in the global market. The three largest markets outside of Korea comprised Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, where Cushion products have become an essential for every makeup bag.

According to 2013 survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organisation, more than 50 percent of the foreign visitors to Korea have purchased Korean cosmetics products, indicating that the influence of K-Beauty (Korean beauty) is ever-growing. Among the Korean cosmetics products, Cushion, which has changed the way Korean women wear makeup, is now creating a global beauty trend beyond its popularity in Korea.
Another study conducted by the global research firm TNS Korea that interviewed 800 Korean female consumers found that 75 percent of Korean women have used or are currently using Cushion products. The respondents chose the portability and the convenience of creating the natural-looking flawless skin as their reasons for choosing Cushion.

Moreover, the survey showed that Cushion was in fact has changed the makeup habits of Korean women by reducing the steps and time needed in creating the skin-looks they prefer. 75 percent said that since using Cushion their makeup routine was shortened, and 76 percent replied that they were now easily reapplying makeup and sunscreen with Cushions. 55 percent of women responded that their sole base makeup product was Cushion. The survey showed more than 8 out of 10 most-favoured Cushion brands were from the category creator AmorePacific Group, including IOPE and LANEIGE.

Cushion refers to a makeup compact built with a specially-designed urethane foam that safely contains and preserves makeup liquid comprised of foundation, sunscreen and skincare formula. Already popular as the “must-have” item in Korea for easy, flawless skin makeup, Cushion has more recently gained keen attentions in the global cosmetics market.

Amore Pacific Group began its research and development for Cushion in January 2007 and introduced the “IOPE AIR CUSHION” in March 2008. The sales of IOPE AIR CUSHION totalled 3.8 billion KRW in the first year launched and surpassed 200 billion KRW in 2014, which made it one of the best-selling items in the Korean cosmetics market.

And with the industry-leading technology, AmorePacific has launched numerous Cushion products with different functional benefits through its brands, such as the LANEIGE BB Cushion, Sulwhasoo Evenfair Perfecting Cushion, Innisfree Mineral Melting BB Cushion and ETUDE HOUSE Precious Mineral Any Cushion.

The LANEIGE BB Cushion series in particular was re-tailored for each global market to meet local skin conditions. As a result of localised marketing strategy, about 1.17 million units of LANEIGE BB Cushion were sold in China in 2014. As of January 2015, AmorePacific Group offers a total of 19 Cushion products from its 13 brands in more than ten countries in the Asian and North American regions, leading the “globalisation” of the Korean-born Cushion.
“Cushion, created from AmorePacific Group’s innovative technology, is a revolutionary product that is changing the makeup routines of women across the world and is going to be at the centre of global beauty trend in 2015,” said Suh Kyung-Bae, Chairman & CEO of AMOREPACIFIC Group. “AMOREPACIFIC Group will continue to pioneer and lead the global Cushion market with the company’s unparalleled technology and superior products.” he added.