KOTRA, Lotte Home Shopping open K-beauty pop-up in Paris' Marais district with 33 SMEs

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and Lotte Home Shopping have launched a K-beauty promotional store in the Marais district of Paris, running from Saturday through Nov. 30 as part of a government program to help domestic retailers expand overseas. Thirty-three small and medium-sized enterprises in the K-beauty and lifestyle sectors are participating in the roughly 50-day campaign to break into the French and broader European markets.

The Marais is a cultural hub where Parisians and artists converge, home to fashion boutiques, contemporary art galleries and well-known restaurants. KOTRA said it expects tens of thousands of consumers and key local buyers to visit the venue during the event, citing the district's prime commercial appeal.

France is one of the world's most active beauty markets. According to Euromonitor and Statista, the French beauty and personal care market was valued at between 22 trillion and 24 trillion won ($17.9 billion) as of 2025. Per-capita annual spending on beauty and personal care products in France also ranks among the highest in the world.

"Korean cosmetics have been gaining popularity in France, which holds the top share of the global cosmetics import market," a KOTRA official said. "Not only specialty beauty retailers such as Sephora and Nocibé, but also pharmacy-based health and daily goods stores like Pharmacie Monge and convenience stores are rushing to stock Korean cosmetics."

The pop-up operates under "Eeseol," a new K-brand export platform developed by Lotte Home Shopping. The concept pairs K-pop and K-beauty — both central to the hallyu wave — to appeal to local consumers.

On the opening weekend, actor Kwon Yu-ri will serve as a guest store manager for the day. In the third week, the store will sell official character merchandise and commemorative goods tied to "Hybe Cine Fest," a K-pop event co-organized by Hybe and CGV that screens concert footage and performance videos of Hybe artists in cinemas.

Alongside the pop-up, KOTRA plans to hold export consultation sessions by inviting buyers from major French retail companies to maximize the initiative's impact. Buyers from specialty beauty retailers, pharmacy-based health and daily goods stores, parapharmacies — pharmacy-adjacent stores specializing in cosmetics and hygiene products — and online platforms will meet one-on-one with participating companies.

KOTRA said the collaboration extends to Europe the results achieved through a previous pop-up in Los Angeles. The agency plans to use France — the birthplace of the global beauty industry — as a springboard for European expansion by simultaneously raising consumer awareness and exploring distribution network opportunities.

Lotte Home Shopping has consistently targeted key European markets, holding its "Korea Brand Expo" — an overseas sales-channel program for small and medium-sized enterprises — in Paris in 2025 and Madrid in 2026. KOTRA said it expects the overseas partnerships and experience accumulated through those events to complement this pop-up and generate mutual benefits.

"Prime commercial districts around the world can be difficult for individual small and medium-sized enterprises to enter on their own, but when a leading domestic retailer establishes a local foothold as a platform, even strong smaller companies can step onto the world stage in a stable way," said Kim Myung-hee, KOTRA executive vice president and head of the Industrial Innovation and Growth Division. "Through pop-up marketing at The Grove in Los Angeles and in the Marais district in Paris, we expect the model of joint overseas entry and growth between retail platforms and small K-consumer goods companies to expand further."