Eye creams with instant lifting effect under development

To keep up with the success of snail slime-based beauty products, South Korea manufacturers of eye creams are scouting for new ingredients with more powerful anti-aging effects. This is as competition heats up in the relatively small and saturated market.

"Though snail cream has been a fad, its momentum has diminished a bit. Now, instant lifting eye cream, which provides immediate cosmetic effect, is getting popular. So we are developing such products this year," said Cody Kim, overseas sales chief manager at Chamos Cosmetic Co. Ltd.

Nexxen Cosmetic Co. Ltd is directing efforts toward formulations that will not only have a temporary but a lasting effect. "We are differentiating our products by including active ingredients used in Korea's traditional medicine such as red ginseng," said manager Hyun-jun Park. "That can penetrate deeper into the skin to make it clearer and more hydrated."

There is also a trend toward eye creams that can be applied to the rest of the face. Dran Co. Ltd is planning to change ingredients, with work under way at its own R&D centers.

Makers, including Dran, are fine-tuning marketing strategies, eyeing the home shopping segment to match changing buying habits.

At present, there are approximately 400 OEM and ODM suppliers of eye creams in South Korea. This is out of the 1,400 cosmetics manufacturers and more than 4,000 trading companies registered in the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The pool is expected to become bigger as online suppliers and those from the pharmaceutical industry expand to the cosmetics field.

Based on the data from the Korea Cosmetics Association, about 20 large and 50 small and midsize companies make up the eye cream segment. Cosmax and Coson are one among the former group. The majority opts to manufacture eye creams in South Korea despite the availability of facilities in mainland China.

Exports remain upbeat in this line despite difficulties in the global economy. Coson anticipates its overseas sales will double this year. "To this end, we will increase the number of acquire China Sanitary Certificates to 60 in the months ahead from 17 in 2015," said Kim. The maker ships to Russia, mainland China and the US.

Chamos is positive about maintaining performance overseas, targeting $2 million in revenue from $1 million achieved in 2015. Its key destinations are Southeast Asia, mainland China, Japan, Russia and Brazil. This year, it will increase marketing efforts in the Middle East and Europe, and plans to have an exclusive distributor inSpain.

Nexxen sends products to Vietnam, Hong Kong and Myanmar. Eye creams constitute 10 percent of total output. D'Ran's markets abroad include Singapore, the US, New Zealand, Cambodia and Taiwan.

See a comparison table of eye cream suppliers on GlobalSources.com