Since establishing its Indonesia branch in 2012, the South Korean cosmetics giant has grown into a leading contract manufacturer in South East Asia (SEA).
In 2023, Cosmax Indonesia surpassed KRW100bn (USD73.5m) in annual sales for the first time, with an average annual growth rate of 48% in the past six years.
The company has found particular success in cushion foundation by enhancing its lasting power and introducing differentiated shades to suit local consumer preferences.
Cosmax participated as an official sponsor at the 2025 Shopee Korea K-Beauty Summit held at Lotte World Tower in Seoul on June 10, where it announced its SEA growth strategy.
“Cosmax prides itself on being an expert in the SEA cosmetics industry. Since consumers in the region value quality, brand reliability, and trendiness when purchasing cosmetics, collaboration with trustworthy local partners and marketing strategies will be key factors for market entry and expansion.
“Based on our diverse and fruitful experiences with both global and domestic clients, we are able to strategically provide services to create local success stories by developing formulations suited to the SEA market, as well as use local market data held by Cosmax and Shopee to ensure steady product supply through local production,” said Kyoung Choi, vice chairman of Cosmax.
The company expects the cosmetics market in SEA to continue booming and will therefore consistently invest into this region.
“The Indonesian beauty and personal care market is forecasted to grow to about IDR200tn (USD12.27bn) by 2029 — a 43.5% increase compared to 2024. During the same period, Thailand is also expected to grow to about THB350bn (USD10.76bn), a 35.6% increase.”
It is preparing to meet the demand by constructing new factories in Indonesia and Thailand this year, while looking to open a branch in Surabaya to target the eastern part of Indonesia.
In addition, the company will be setting up sales offices in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam to support K-beauty’s advancement in this region.
Tailoring for local consumers
Inaugurated in 2018, Cosmax’s Thai subsidiary has been recording double-digit growth every year, thanks to the popularity of small-capacity cosmetics specially developed for the market. In 2024, it achieved annual operating profit for the first time in six years.
The sun care category, in particular, has seen rapid growth in SEA, with sales last year increasing by more than two times compared to the previous year.
This is attributed to a “meticulous strategy” based on thorough understanding of consumer needs in each country.
For instance, the Indonesia branch works with approximately 350 partners, including multinational brands, mid-to-large local brands and indie brands, to redesign products that are a hit in Korea to cater to local culture, skin types, and climate.
“Considering the region’s climate environment, we expanded our offerings of non-sticky gel-type products that do not leave a white cast, and that are suitable for hot and humid weather.
“Additionally, socioeconomic factors, such as income level growth and family structures of the MZ generation, we boldly introduced products like ‘Tinted Sun’ that combine infant and toddler sun care with colour tones, which have gained popularity.”
The company will be strengthening its R&D focus on formulations tailored for the skin characteristics of local consumers through discovering new materials derived from native plants and developing novel technologies.
“With 25% of the Indonesia branch’s workforce comprising researchers, we are building up product development capabilities to respond to evolving consumer trends.”
At the same time, Cosmax is actively venturing into new categories and portfolio diversification.
These include OBM collaboration with large local distributors, import distribution of new Korean brands, and launch of health functional food brands with the largest pharmaceutical company in Indonesia.
