The South Korean manufacturer announced this strategic partnership with ebay’s Japanese arm at the 2025 Qoo10 Japan K-Beauty Mega Conference, which it also sponsored.
This partnership leverages eBay Japan’s operational capabilities, particularly through its Qoo10 platform, to facilitate market entry and growth for K-indie beauty brands.
The initiative is driven by the high demand for Korean cosmetics in Japan in recent years.
According to the Japan Cosmetic Importers Association, K-beauty accounted for over 30% of Japan’s total cosmetics imports last year, topping the rankings for three consecutive years.
Cosmax underscored its commitment to tailoring products to the specific needs of the Japanese consumer.
“In the future, Cosmax will establish a K-beauty growth strategy tailored to local distribution conditions through cooperation with eBay Japan. Cosmax will provide customised support to indie brands during the R&D and production process, and eBay Japan will support the strategic entry into Japan and growth of K-indie brands with high growth potential by utilising the platform influence of Qoo10 Japan, which has the largest K-beauty market share in the Japanese e-commerce market,” the company said in a press statement.
Cosmax established a local corporation in 2022 in anticipation of the growth of K-beauty in Japan.
Since then, Cosmax’s direct exports to Japan have increased by an annual average of approximately 22% over three years.
One of the company’s strengths is its understanding of the Japanese market, Cosmax added.
“Cosmax has analysed the Japanese cosmetics market from various angles, not only in terms of cosmetics trends, but also in terms of climate, population, consumption behaviour, and related regulations. It is necessary to develop products that suit Japan’s hot and humid climate and aeging society, and to take advantage of the cost effectiveness that is one of K-beauty’s greatest strengths.”
Cosmax boasts a significant global presence with subsidiaries in the US, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan, along with sales offices in other regions.
The company has expanded its production capacity to over three billion units annually to meet growing global demand.
Driving force
During the conference, ebay Japan CEO Koo Ja-hyun revealed the firm’s ambitious plans to “20 K-beauty companies worth 100 billion yen and 100 companies worth 10 billion yen” within the next three years.
He highlighted the significance of the beauty category to Qoo10’s success in Japan.
“Since the establishment of Qoo10 Japan in 2010, the driving force behind the market’s average growth of three to four times every year was the beauty business. ebay Japan’s beauty business has expanded more than 10 times compared to seven years ago.”
Koo believes Japan has the potential to become the second-largest market for K-beauty after the US, given the geographical and cultural proximity between the two neighbouring nations.
“Japan has a great advantage of being able to understand the market and customers much deeper and take flexible strategies because it is especially close to physical distance,” he said.
