Innisfree (brand)

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Innisfree
Native name
이니스프리
Founded2000 (2000) in South Korea
FounderSuh Kyungbae
Headquarters
Yongsan, Seoul
,
South Korea
Area served
Asia, North America, Australia, Russia
Products
  • Skincare
  • makeup
  • body & hair
  • perfume
  • fragrance
ParentAmore Pacific
Websitewww.innisfree.com

Innisfree (Korean: 이니스프리) is a South Korean cosmetics brand owned and founded by Amore Pacific in 2000. The brand name derives from Irish poet W. B. Yeats' poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'. Innisfree has stores in South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Innisfree is popular for its affordability and brand concept, which emphasizes healthy and reasonably priced beauty products with ingredients responsibly sourced from Jeju Island, South Korea.[1] Innisfree was the first K-beauty brand to launch two inclusive cushion foundation lines with 14 shades.[2]

History

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The Old logo of the company until February of 2023

Innisfree was launched by the largest skincare and cosmetics company in South Korea, Amore Pacific, in 2000 and was marketed as the manufacturer's first eco-friendly brand.[3] The brand name originates from W. B. Yeats' poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree'.

Expansion

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Amore Pacific opened its first brand road-shop in 2005 and its 100th in 2007.

Asia

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The brand's first flagship store opened in Shanghai on April 25, 2012.[4] The company expanded and opened stores in Hong Kong, Singapore and India in 2013. The first Indian store was opened in New Delhi on October 10, 2013 [5] and the first Singaporean store on November 22, 2013.[6] By 2014, the company had over 80 stores in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India. In the first half of 2014, Amore Pacific planned on boosting the brand's sales in Taipei and opened a second store months after launching in Taiwan, aiming to make Innisfree the country's biggest South Korean skincare and cosmetics brand.[7] On December 5, 2014, Innisfree opened its first store in Malaysia.[8] In its fifteenth year, the brand was launched in Thailand and Innisfree opened its largest flagship store at Hongyi Square in Shanghai, China, with over 108 stores in the country by the end of the year.[9][10] The first store in Vietnam was opened in November 2016, while the first store in the Philippines opened two years later.[11]

North America

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In 2017, the brand began expanding in the West and launched its first store in the United States on September 15, 2017, in Manhattan.[12] Innisfree expanded its number of stores in the United States with the opening of another location in Manhattan on October 5, 2018.[13] In May 2021, Amore Pacific announced that all North American Innisfree stores will close due to the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the market. However, Innisfree products will continue to be available via Sephora.[14]

Sales

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In 2011, the brand reported 140.5 billion won ($123.1 million) in sales from its 434 locations in South Korea.[15]

In 2019, Innisfree's sales revenue was 552 billion won (~$490.6 million), down from 600 billion (~$533.3 million) in 2018.[16]

In 2020, Innisfree's reported its lowest net profit since 2013: approximately 10.22 billion won (~$9.06 million), down from about 48.87 billion won (~$43.3 million) in 2019.[17]

Concept

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Innisfree uses the slogan "Clean Island, where clean nature and healthy beauty coexist happily". The brand concept emphasises nature and eco-friendly practices.[18]

Products

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Innisfree Green Tea line products in year 2016

Innisfree is South Korea's first all-natural brand, and many of the products' ingredients are sourced from Jeju Island. The company's products range from makeup to skin care products for women and for men. Innisfree's products include the Super Volcanic Pore Clay Mask,[19] Olive Real Cleansing Foam,[20] and the Wine Peeling Jelly Softener.[21]

Innisfree's best-selling product worldwide is the Green Tea Seed Serum And Jeju cherry blossom.[22]

In September 2020, Innisfree launched an anti-aging line, Black Tea Youth Enhancing, and expanded the line to the Singaporean market in January 2021.[23]

Spokespersons and models

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Innisfree has been endorsed by numerous celebrities since its launch in 2010. The brand's first model was Han Chae-young. Actresses Kim Tae-hee and Nam Sang-mi have also endorsed the brand.[24]

Since 2006, its notable spokespersons include actress Song Hye-kyo, actress Moon Geun-young, Girls' Generation member Yoona, actor Lee Min-ho, Twice, Loona, Wanna One, Shin Ye-eun and Ahn Hyo-seop .[24][25]

In 2021, singer-songwriter Stella Jang became an Innisfree cosmetics model.[26] Recently, Innisfree unveiled its brand model Shin Ye-eun through a promotional video of its own brand's large-scale sale event "Inni-Super-Big-Sale", which takes place once a year.[27] Ive (former Iz*One) member Jang Won-young is the brand's global ambassador.[28]

In February 2023, Innisfree welcomed Mingyu of Seventeen as their next global ambassador.[29]

Social Responsibility Activities

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  • The empty bottle collection campaign: The empty bottle collection campaign is Innisfree's flagship Green Life campaign, which began in 2003.[30] Customers can receive 300 Beauty Points for each empty bottle by returning the container of Innisfree products to the store. The number of empty bottles collected by 2020 is about 30,000, and in 2017, Innisfree opened an empty bottle space in an upcycling store that uses interior finishing materials using collected empty bottles.[31]
  • Upcycling Beauty: 'Upcycling Beauty' is a project that gives new value to discarded resources and recreates products with sincerity. In August 2018, we developed a body product using coffee foil, which was thrown away as the first project product, in collaboration with Anthracite, and in 2019, we developed a hairline with Jeju Beer. Recently, it secured Jeju Gujwa carrots, which cannot be sold from I'M Jeju, and launched an ugly carrot hand line made from carrot water and carrot oil extracted from carrots.[32]

Paper Bottle Controversy

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In 2020, Innisfree released a repackaged version of the Green Tea Seed Serum that said, "HELLO, I'M PAPER BOTTLE". In April 2021, a customer of the product accused Innisfree of "greenwashing" and posted photographs and comments on Facebook revealing that the product was in a plastic bottle. The post went viral and led to consumer backlash that circulated in local media. Innisfree issued a public apology acknowledging that the labeling may be misleading and clarified that the packaging is recyclable and that "paper bottle explain[s] the role of the paper label surrounding the bottle."[33][34][35]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ innisfree.co.kr. "이니스프리소개 브랜드컨셉 | Natural benefits from Jeju, innisfree". www.innisfree.com (in Korean). Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Cheng, Grace (November 2, 2017). "INNISFREE IS THE FIRST K-BEAUTY BRAND TO MAKE DARK FOUNDATION". Allure. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  3. ^ "이니스프리". Innisfree.co.kr. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  4. ^ Lee, Ji-yoon (April 25, 2012). "Amore opens first Innisfree store in Shanghai". The Korea Herald. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  5. ^ "First Innisfree store launched in the capital - Yahoo OMG! India". In.omg.yahoo.com. April 20, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  6. ^ Quek, Eugene (October 17, 2013). "NATURAL K-BEAUTY: INNISFREE TO OPEN IN SINGAPORE". Her World. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. ^ Su, Amy (June 2, 2014). "AmorePacific to expand its operations in Taiwan". Taipei Times. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  8. ^ "Innisfree malaysia". Facebook. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  9. ^ "BRAND HISTORY". Innisfree.co.kr. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  10. ^ Park, Jung-youn (April 30, 2015). "After 70 years, AmorePacific doing better than ever". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  11. ^ "Amorepacific Enters the Philippines".
  12. ^ Euny Hong (December 9, 2017). "I Grew Up Around Korean Beauty Products. Americans, You've Been Had". The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  13. ^ "New Innisfree NYC Lexington Avenue Location - The Glow Addict". The Glow Addict. May 20, 2018. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  14. ^ "Amorepacific's Innisfree to Exit US Market". Business of Fashion. May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  15. ^ "Amore opens first Innisfree store in Shanghai". The Korea Herald. April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  16. ^ "Innisfree: sales revenue 2020". Statista. April 27, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  17. ^ "Innisfree: net profit 2020". Statista. April 27, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  18. ^ 이니스프리 : 브랜드 컨셉
  19. ^ "SUPER VOLCANIC PORE CLAY MASK". Innisfree (in Korean). Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  20. ^ Cha, Frances (March 21, 2013). "Complete Korean cosmetics shopping guide". CNN. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  21. ^ Kantor, Jodi (February 7, 2014). "A Look at Korea's Culture From the Bathhouse". The New York Times. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  22. ^ "The Wait is Over...Top K-Beauty Brand, innisfree, Launches at Sephora Canada This Month". Canada Newswire. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  23. ^ Lim, Guan Yu (January 25, 2021). "Anti-ageing for millennials: innisfree launches new line in Singapore following success in South Korea". Cosmetics Design Asia. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  24. ^ a b "Amorepacific > Pr Center > Brand News" (in Korean). En.amorepacific.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  25. ^ "이달의 소녀, 화장품 모델 발탁...연간 메이크업 프로젝트 눈길" (in Korean). TenAsia. January 19, 2017. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  26. ^ 김, 현식 (March 18, 2021). "스텔라장, 화장품 모델 발탁 "데뷔 후 처음"". 이데일리 (in Korean). Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  27. ^ 김, 나영 (May 7, 2021). "이니스프리, '이니 슈퍼빅세일' 광고 영상 속 신예은 미모 화제". 인사이트 (in Korean). Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  28. ^ "[Today's K-pop] EXO's D.O. Tops iTunes charts in 59 regions with solo debut album". July 27, 2021.
  29. ^ Cruz, Jashley Ann (February 27, 2023). "SEVENTEEN's Mingyu is the new global model of Innisfree". GMA Network. Retrieved July 24, 2023.
  30. ^ "Innisfree 'Gong Byeong Gong Gan'". AMOREPACIFIC. Archived from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  31. ^ Ryu, Nan-young(류난영) (June 9, 2017). "이니스프리 공병 재활용 매장 '공병공간' 오픈" [Innisfree empty bottle recycling store 'empty space' opened]. Newsis.
  32. ^ Choi, Ji-yun(최지윤) (July 13, 2020). "이니스프리, 못난이 당근 핸드라인 출시" [Innisfree launches the ugly carrot hand line]. Newsis.
  33. ^ "Misleading advertising: consumer buys a 'green' product and it turns out to be a paper-covered plastic bottle". Entrepreneur. April 12, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  34. ^ "South Korea beauty brand sorry for 'paper bottle' label fail". BBC. April 9, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  35. ^ Yim, Hyun-su (April 8, 2021). "[Newsmaker] Innisfree forced to clarify 'paper bottle' packaging after customer discovers plastic bottle inside". The Korea Herald. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
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