South Korean personal care firm eyeing South East Asia with first nutricosmetics range
The company is aiming to debut a range of beauty-from-within supplements by the fourth quarter of this year, first in South Korea, then South East Asia.
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, senior director Jeff Yoon said: "We have conceptualised a range of supplements that focuses on inner beauty. These capsules will target specific conditions or aspects of skin and hair health, such as hair loss and blemished skin.
"At the moment, all details regarding the ingredients we plan to use and the number of products we are planning to develop have to be kept confidential, as we would prefer to release that information closer to our launch date.
"However, I can tell you that we are targeting mainly women in their early 20s to 30s, who tend to be the most pro-active and sophisticated demographic when it comes to shopping for health supplements."
Yoon added that the concept's main idea was that of "one day, one pill" to restore balance to skin and hair, allowing consumers to save time and effort on beauty regimens, as well as money on cosmetics and personal care products.
Sales in the South
Xation plans to roll out 241 Balance in online retail platforms such as Qoo10, Shopee and Carousell. If consumer demand is strong, the firm will then distribute the products to retail stores, supermarkets and pharmacies in South Korea.
"We will launch in South Korea first, then expand to South East Asia. We are targeting Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as our first markets in this region," said Yoon.
"We are especially keen to enter the Singapore market, because we see it as a test bed for other South East Asian countries, due to the diversity of the consumers there.
"Singapore is seen as a regional hub for many businesses, and how a product or brand performs in that market will inform our approach to other markets in the region."
He further said that the same online-first approach would apply outside of South Korea.
Xation, which is best known for its popular skincare and haircare brand, Grafen, decided to venture into the beauty-from-within segment based on the ever-growing supplements industry in South East Asia.
The firm saw an opportunity to combine its expertise and experience in skincare and haircare with a product format that could help expand its presence in Asia, and thus, developed the concept for 241 Balance.
Keeping it real
Xation also relies solely on video commerce to market its products, and intends on applying the same model to 241 Balance.
Yoon said, "We plan to use our video commerce model to market 241 Balance. Instead of relying on advertisements, we prefer to convey the benefits of our products through our videos, which feature regular people instead of celebrities or professional models.
"These people would have used our products, and by having them share their experiences and demonstrate the usage of these products in our videos, we feel we can engage customers and relate to them on a more personal level."
He also said that video commerce was a good way to capture consumer attention, particularly if they consider the content relatable to themselves.
Yoon said, "This has model worked well for us in South Korea, and we are confident consumers in South East Asia will respond positively to it.
"Of course, depending on the individual markets, we will conduct research to determine if there is any other marketing channel we should employ to connect with consumers, but we are excited to bring both 241 Balance and our video commerce marketing to South East Asia."
