In that short span of time, the brand has established a global presence in 18 countries, including the United States, opening a total of 900 stores with an expansion rate of 100 stores every six months.

In the Philippines alone, Face Shop has opened 20 stand-alone boutiques in Manila, Cebu and Bacolod since it first opened in July of 2006. Its presence made even stronger by a visit from its celebrity endorser Kwon Song Woo, otherwise known as Cholo of “Stairway to Heaven” fame.

The numbers are very impressive, indeed. So, it was with much enthusiasm that this writer, together with 11 other lifestyle editors and writers―beauty junkies all―set off with The Face Shop Manila team on a three-day Korean sojourn to learn more about the brand. Led by Suyen Corp. vice president Bryan Lim, the group was poised to find out what Face Shop has to offer and how it achieved such phenomenal success in a short period of time.

The first day was scheduled for press briefing and interview, followed by makeup demo and store visit. Tommy Kim, Face Shop executive vice-president and chief operating officer, was on hand to welcome everyone from Manila, share a brief backgrounder on the company and answer questions.

According to the US-educated executive, they want Face Shop to be recognized as the people’s brand. “We built our brand around the theme of natural story because we felt that we can go into a lot of different categories and capture the interest of a lot of different types of people. We don’t want just a niche market. We want the entire market. We want to produce products that are rife and consistent to what your lifestyle is going to be like,” he said.

Brand values

The Face Shop, we learned, focuses on three major concepts, the first of which is naturalism. As such, their products are inspired by nature and made of ingredients culled from flowers, grains, fruits, other plants and herbs, and natural water to nourish and revitalize the skin.

The brand, together with AMI, a French manufacturer of eco-friendly natural products, has also developed Eco-Vert, a skincare range that not only uses ingredients from nature, but is produced, manufactured and packaged through environmentally-friendly methods. Thus, representing Eco-cosmetics or skincare with true naturalism.

Second, Face Shop is based on variety. It is currently offering 1,000 products and introduces around 30 new ones every month. There’s a product for anyone and everyone―from teens, who enjoy the wide range of makeup, cleansers, pore minimizers and affordable mask sheets, to more mature women, who appreciate the skincare lines available in Face Shop.

And, third, it operates on the concept of value, providing its consumers high-quality products at affordable prices.

The brand also has a firm commitment to advanced development, as it relies heavily on local and global research and development plus consumer surveys to further strengthen its offerings. To demonstrate this, the second day of the tour was scheduled for a visit to Cosmax, one of the top cosmetics manufacturers in Korea that supplies products to a good number of leading beauty brands, including Face Shop.

“We monitor what’s happening in the market―in every market―through consumer trends studies. Then we also talk to our manufacturers who are also future trend makers. And they also talk with not just us, but all the global top brands,” said Kim.

As a result of such holistic brand values, Face Shop has earned its position as a top-selling Asian brand and the No. 1 selling Korean cosmetics brand worldwide. Based on studies done in 2006, Face Shop topped other Korean brands like LG, Amore Pacific and Missha in sales volume.

Color trends

An undeniable link to fashion has also strengthened Face Shop’s presence in the color (otherwise known as makeup) category. “We also closely monitor and watch what’s happening in the fashion industry because color makeup is very closely linked with fashion,” said Kim.

The Face Shop’s latest color offerings include products that are manufactured using the baked technology. The baked process, which is also used in products like the best-selling Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, is gaining popularity over the pressed powder variety because makeup products manufactured this way are longer-lasting and provide a luxurious but subtle sheen.

During the makeup demo by Ms. J and Face Shop training manager Karin Park, two very different looks for Spring 2008 and Winter 07/08 were presented using the brand’s versatile color range. First was the Spring 2008 forecast entitled “Sweet Fairy,” a warm, fresh, vital look that used warm pinks, orange and berry. This was followed by the Winter 07/08 party makeup forecast entitled “Little Black Dress.” Soft, smoldering smoky eyes that were created with the use of gray eye shadow characterized the sophisticated look.

All of the above-mentioned values and offerings have undeniably contributed to the success of Face Shop. But Kim states that trust in the brand is also vital to their impressive growth. “Clearly people recognize our brand story and brand merchandise. Every consumer is the same. You get this wonderful media and then the product is not good, you simply don’t go back. Our retention rate is over 60% percent. People come back, not only in Korea but everywhere in the market. So that has been a clear success story that they trust the brand,” he said.

With retail sales of over 400 million US dollars worldwide, Kim said Face Shop has only just begun.

“We believe that growth is going to continue because outside Korea the growth is just beginning. It’s not at the tail end but at the beginning of the story. In Korea we are now an established brand. We are like the Starbucks of the coffee world. We want to be the same in every country that we’re in. We want to be that in the Philippines. We want to be a brand that every Filipino knows.”

Let’s face it. The way things are, they might just do it.