The Seoul Economic Promotion Agency (SBA, CEO Hyunwoo Kim) announced that it held the 'SBA x DOUYIN Summer Sourcing Fair in SEOUL' at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul on Tuesday, July 22nd, together with the Chinese short-form platform DOUYIN.
This event was organized to facilitate practical business connections between e-commerce professionals and to accelerate their entry into the Chinese market, with the participation of senior e-commerce executives, promising small and medium-sized beauty brands in Seoul, and influential Chinese influencers (wanghong).
The annual export volume of all beauty companies in South Korea is estimated at approximately 14 trillion won, while Douin's transaction volume is approximately 40 times that amount. This gap clearly demonstrates how strategic collaboration with platforms like Douin is when developing K-beauty's overseas expansion strategy centered on digital platforms.
Twenty promising small and medium-sized beauty brands from Seoul participated in this event, conducting product sourcing consultations with key Douin e-commerce officials and live commerce influencers to explore the possibility of entering the Chinese market.
About 20 promising beauty brands from Seoul participated in the 'Seoul Beauty Brand Product Sourcing Meeting' held at the DDP Showroom Sample Store.
Each brand showcased its products at the event through individual booths, offering the Douyin brand team, relevant agencies, and influencers (wang hongs) the opportunity to introduce and experience the products directly. This not only facilitated on-site promotion but also provided an opportunity to gauge real-time feedback. The sourcing meeting included practical consultations, including reviewing each brand's product suitability for the Chinese market and discussing potential live commerce broadcasts and distribution collaborations within the Douyin platform.
Additionally, numerous discussions took place on-site between participating influencers and brands regarding future live commerce-linked broadcasts, securing the potential for tangible business results.
The "Korea-China E-Commerce Cooperation Seminar," held during the event, provided a meaningful opportunity for industry experts to share strategies and practical know-how for Korean beauty and fashion brands entering the Chinese market. Lori Wang, Global Head of E-Commerce at Douyin, introduced the Douyin platform's structure and entry process, highlighting the high growth potential for beauty and fashion brands in Seoul.
Additionally, beauty product experience events targeting Chinese influencers and SNS-based consumer experience groups were held regularly at the 'B the B' Uptown and Downtown spaces within DDP.
About 100 KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) based on the Xiaohongshu platform, including famous Wang Hongs active on Douyin, visited the site, directly experienced Seoul beauty brand products, and actively shared the vivid atmosphere of the site and the appeal of the products with Chinese consumers by creating SNS content in real time.
The beauty complex cultural space "B the B" goes beyond a simple experience space. True to its motto, "Be the Beautiful," it is a sensory space that proposes a new value of beauty and lifestyle. Designed to illuminate individuals' unique beauty and the essential value of brands, this exhibition- and experience-focused space offers visitors an immersive brand experience through spatial design and content planning that emotionally and creatively unravel the identities and stories of Seoul's beauty and fashion brands.
The event's finale was a unique party that organically combined the sensational content elements of K-POP with business networking, drawing attention as a new concept B2B platform that goes beyond simple performances and fosters practical exchanges based on cultural empathy.
The 'Networking Party', which started off with a splendid performance by popular K-POP artists such as OX:N, Woody Gochild, and UNIQ Sungjoo, heated up the atmosphere and captured the attention of the attendees.
SBA consistently plans and operates culture-based hybrid business events that strategically combine K-pop and business, pioneering a differentiated B2B exchange model in both domestic and international markets. Beyond simple product introductions and export consultations, SBA's unique approach, which leverages global pop culture content to foster emotional connections and immersive networking between brands and partners, is gaining recognition as a new solution for the global expansion of the K-beauty and fashion industries.
Kim Hyun-woo, CEO of the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency, said, “We hope that this sourcing fair with Douyin will help promising beauty brands in Seoul achieve tangible results in entering the Chinese market,” and added, “We will continue to strengthen our cooperation with Douyin and actively support their global expansion, using ‘B the B’ and the ‘DDP Showroom’ as central hubs.”
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