The History of WHOO Becomes the First Brand to Break RMB 100 Million in Tik Tok China 618

Korean high-end cosmetics brand The history of WHOO (which is later referred to as WHOO) has become the first brand to sell over RMB 100 million ($14.84 million) in the 618 promotion of Tik Tok China. According to the observation from CHAILEEDO, the brand has been in the Chinese market for 17 years and currently has 312 offline counters. Furthermore, WHOO has been present on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD, Vipshop, and Tik Tok China. It's worth mentioning that WHOO has seized the trend of live e-commerce in China and achieved excellent sales on Tik Tok China and Kuaishou.

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The latest data shows that from 0:00 on June 1 to 24:00 on June 10, China Standard Time, the sales of WHOO, the cosmetics brand of Korean cosmetics group LG Household & Health Care, has exceeded 100 million yuan ($14.84 million) in Tik Tok China 618. The Mid-year Shopping Festival was launched by Tik Tok China, lasting the first 18 days of June.

According to the observation from CHAILEEDO, the top 10 brands in the beauty and skincare category were WHOO, Estee Lauder, SK-II, BIOHYALUX, Helena Rubinstein, PROYA, HANS, OLAY, QuadHa , and L'Oreal, of which 4 are Chinese cosmetic brands.

Two years after its birth, WHOO officially entered the Chinese market in 2005. According to CHAILEEDO, the brand has 312 offline counters in China at present. In addition, LG Household & Health Care noted in its 2021 financial report that WHOO achieved a 12% growth in China, mainly thanks to e-commerce channels such as Tmall, JD, Vipshop and Tik Tok China.

Currently, on the Tmall platform, there are three products with monthly sales of more than 10,000 in the official online store of WHOO. Otherwise, there are 24 products with more than 500,000 reviews respectively on JD. Among them, Cheongidan Radiant Rejuvenating Set, Gongjinhyang Vital Hydrating Set and Jinyulhyang Set are the top 3 best-sellers.

It is worthwhile mentioning that in addition to Tmall and JD, two live e-commerce platforms, Tik Tok China and Kuaishou, have become an important addition to the online selling channels of WHOO. In January last year, the brand's official flagship store officially entered Tik Tok China.

In the 2021 Tik Tok China e-commerce annual ranking list released by the platform itself, the official flagship store of WHOO ranked first in the sales list of the beauty category. In addition, the brand also ranked No. 1 in the 2021 Kuaishou Top 30 sales list.

Taking Tik Tok China as an example, there were 79,000,000 live streams associated with WHOO last year and nearly 6,600 a month, of which the number of monthly associated live streams all broke 10,000 in the last quarter of 2021. Last year, the livestreamer @Guangdong Fufu shared the closest partnership with WHOO, and become the brand’s main source of sales on Tik Tok China.

CHAILEEDO has also learned that in recent years, WHOO has been selling mainly skincare sets on e-commerce platforms, such as the Cheongidan Radiant Rejuvenating Set, which is priced at $247. The recent data shows that the skincare sets of the brand have been sold more than $402 million through livestreaming on Tik Tok China and Kuaishou.

In the 2021 results report, LG Household & Health Care, the parent company of WHOO, stated that it will continue to focus on its beauty business in 2022, including the focus on developing luxury beauty brands and further emphasis on the importance of WHOO.

In addition to WHOO, LG Household & Health Care also owns the high-end skincare brand Sum:37. The brand officially entered the Chinese market in 2016 and currently has a certain level of popularity and sells well in China.

In fact, after 2016, under the background of the Korean restriction order and the rise of new beauty brands in China, the market share of some mass-market Korean cosmetic brands has been gradually eroded by Chinese cosmetic brands, such as Etude House, The Face Shop and Innisfree. In general, these brands which are highly dependent on marketing and cost versus benefit have lost their competitiveness compared to many Chinese cosmetic brands. In this round of competition, Korean cosmetic brands such as WHOO and Sulwhasoo have managed to survive by capturing the trend of social media and live e-commerce in the Chinese market.

Subsequently, CHAILEEDO will continue to follow and report on the future development of these Korean cosmetic brands in China.