K-beauty chain Etude House to close last S’pore outlet on Feb 24, shifts focus on online sales

Korean beauty brand Etude House will be closing its last physical store in Singapore at Bugis Junction on February 24.

Owned by conglomerate Amorepacific — which houses other Korean beauty brands like Innisfree and Sulwhasoo — Etude House will continue to be available in Singapore online via its website and e-commerce platforms Shopee, Lazada and Zalora.

Following the store closure, Etude House members will no longer be able to redeem their ETUDE Sweet Points, according to an announcement on its website.

Besides Singapore, Etude House also closed all its physical locations in China last March after seven years of operations.

The brand has reportedly been making losses for the past five years, with its net equity reaching minus 66 billion won (S$74 million) last March.

Riding the wave of K-beauty in Singapore

Launched in 1995, Etude House is a Korean beauty brand selling makeup and skincare products known for its pink castle-like exterior.

It first opened its doors in Singapore in 2009 and had 16 outlets across the island at its peak. In contrast, it had 525 Etude House shops in Korea and 232 international stores open in 2016.

It made waves in 2014 when it opened its flagship outlet at Wisma Atria, which was its largest store globally then. It relaunched the flagship outlet in 2018, which featured a customisable lipstick factory among other things.

That same year, it started selling its products on Shopee Mall. Business of Fashion reported that “its gross merchandise volume grew over 13-fold and its regional e-commerce business doubled by 2020”.

In May 2019, its parent company Amorepacific also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with e-commerce giant Lazada to sell its brands — including Etude House — online in Southeast Asia.

Fast forward to today, Etude House is the only brand under Amorepacific that is facing capital impairment.

Feature Image Credit: SG Magazine