Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** K-Beauty continues its meteoric rise, with NIQ reporting a 53% year-over-year sales surge and 131% growth over two years. As the sector reshapes global cosmetics, capital markets are closely monitoring its expansion and influence on consumer trends.
K-Beauty has established itself as the fastest-growing global beauty sector. According to global consumer intelligence company NIQ, K-Beauty’s value-based sales increased 53% year-over-year and 131% over the past two years.
Capital markets are closely watching how K-Beauty’s global expansion will reshape the growth landscape of the cosmetics industry.
On the 19th, NIQ released its latest report, ‘K-Beauty Goes Global,’ analyzing how Korean beauty is reshaping consumer expectations, accelerating innovation cycles, and redrawing the competitive landscape of the global beauty market. What began as a cultural trend has now become an indicator of the beauty industry’s future.
According to NIQ, global K-Beauty value-based sales increased 53% year-over-year and 131% over the past two years, demonstrating rapid international expansion.
Growth was not confined to specific regions. In Western Europe, K-Beauty value-based sales rose 58% year-over-year, with Korean brands accounting for approximately 10% of European online skincare sales. In key markets such as Italy, Spain, and France, this share reached 15-20%.
K-Beauty growth was widespread across multiple regions: Brazil and Mexico (135%), Middle East e-commerce (76%), Western Europe (58%), and Canada (57%).
In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico recorded 135% value-based growth, emerging as new markets. In North America, e-commerce accounted for 76% of K-Beauty sales, while Canada achieved $164 million in 2025, a 57% increase year-over-year.
In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Korea and China), growth reached 27%, and in the Middle East, e-commerce growth hit 76%.
Social commerce was identified as a key growth driver. According to data released by TikTok Shop, K-Beauty searches on the platform in the UK increased by 125% in 2025, and value-based sales of K-Beauty brands on TikTok Shop in the UK, US, Spain, and Germany surged 430% year-over-year.
The platform’s role in connecting product discovery to purchase has been highlighted.
On the product side, sheet masks, acne patches, essences, serums, and ampoules have moved beyond niche routines to become daily habits. Ingredient-driven innovations such as snail mucin, centella asiatica extract, and PDRN have expanded beyond expert customer segments to mass demand.
K-Beauty is being praised for raising the bar with affordable, high-performance products, faster innovation cycles, and a commerce model that seamlessly connects discovery to purchase.
Capital Market News views this data as a signal that K-Beauty has moved from a trend to a structural growth phase. Key points include the broad-based growth across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America, and the new distribution channel of social commerce driving expansion.
A notable aspect is the mainstreaming of ingredient and formulation innovation. As unique Korean ingredients like snail mucin and PDRN spread to mass demand, domestic raw material and manufacturing companies (ODM/OEM) and indie brands may benefit from the trickle-down effect of growth.
However, with low entry barriers leading to intensified competition, brand power and innovation speed will be key to sustained growth.
Securities firms and the investment banking industry expect K-Beauty’s global expansion to translate into performance momentum for cosmetics ODM/OEM companies, indie brands, and distribution platforms. Brands that have secured social commerce channels and raw material/manufacturing companies with ingredient competitiveness are seen as potential beneficiaries.
Key variables to monitor include the sustainability of regional growth, expansion of social commerce channels like TikTok Shop, category expansion into wellness and hair care, and profitability amid intensifying global competition.
Capital markets are closely watching how K-Beauty’s global growth will impact the performance and valuation of related industries.
