Retail in Asia

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Shilla Duty Free becomes the first travel retailer to offer Huda Beauty

Huda Beauty

The Shilla Duty Free will become the first travel retailer in the world to offer fast-growing brand Huda Beauty. From 26th June, Shilla will stock the brand at its Seoul downtown store and online as the exclusive Korean duty free distributor.

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Huda Beauty was founded in 2013 by beauty influencer Huda Kattan and has grown quickly in popularity since. Kattan has more than 44.7 million Instagram followers and over 4 million YouTube subscribers. The brand offer stretches from false eyelashes to eye shadow palettes, lipsticks and colour cosmetics.

As of last year, Huda Beauty was available in 900 domestic market stores in the US, and more than 600 internationally. Now, said The Shilla Duty Free, “Huda Beauty, which has been focusing on the North American and Middle Eastern markets, has chosen The Shilla Duty Free as its partner in a bid to increase its presence in the Asian market”.

For South Korean consumers, Shilla explained, Huda Beauty has been difficult to come by, with purchases possible until now only through cross-border shopping and multi-brand store Sephora.

An official from The Shilla Duty Free stated: “We are currently on schedule for the in-store launch of popular brands such as Huda Beauty for customers looking forward to duty free shopping. We will do our best to make sure our customers have great shopping experiences at our store.”

Huda Kattan said: “As more and more beauty influencers from South Korea and China introduce Huda Beauty products to their followers, the demand for our products in the Asian market is rising. I’m excited to partner with The Shilla Duty Free, a digital and social powerhouse in cosmetics and perfumes also known for its excellent customer service.”

Shilla said that more global beauty brands are choosing South Korean duty free as their point of entry into the Asian market. Brands such as Helena Rubinstein, Fenty Beauty and Gucci Beauty chose to launch through duty free instead of other channels when they entered the South Korean market, it noted.

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“This allows such companies to quickly introduce their brands to both South Korean consumers, who are sensitive to trends and quality, and Chinese consumers who are the main customers of the duty free stores, enabling them to immediately recognise the market’s reaction,” said Shilla.