Vice Chairman Lee Byung-man of COSMAX said in a New Year’s address at a kickoff ceremony held at the Pangyo headquarters in Gyeonggi Province on Jan. 5 that it is now an opportunity to lead the premiumization of K-beauty in the global market.
Lee said 2025 was a year that achieved meaningful results across the global landscape under the theme “The world is one, COSMAX is one,” and noted it was a year that laid the groundwork for new business growth while working to jointly nurture indie brands to create future growth engines for K-beauty.
He went on to say that now is the time to move to the next stage of elevating customer value itself to premium based on the results achieved so far, stressing that it is an opportunity to lead the premiumization of K-beauty in the global market.
To that end, the COSMAX group selected the 2026 management keyword as “with our strength, add premium to customer value,” and plans to focus companywide capabilities on three strategic directions: ▲ CORE (advancing core competencies) ▲ GLOBAL (strengthening the No. 1 global position) ▲ CONSUMER (execution from the consumer’s perspective).
As the starting point of its strategy to advance core competencies, the COSMAX group presented securing R&I competitiveness. Centered on strategic items such as sun care and base makeup, it plans to raise core competencies to an incomparable level by strengthening responses to global regulations, function and format innovation, and localized research. It also plans to accelerate factory smartification to pursue production automation alongside improved profitability.
To strengthen its global position, it will reinforce the “One COSMAX” strategy. It will expand joint sales and project execution among global subsidiaries and increase its influence in emerging markets such as India, Latin America, the Middle East, and Australia.
It also aims to accelerate the global growth of clients’ K-beauty businesses by expanding export and distribution support through cooperation between the Korea subsidiary and overseas subsidiaries. In addition to cosmetics, in the health supplements business it plans to speed up the cultivation of new markets such as Southeast Asia and Central Asia while further enhancing competitiveness in China.
Under the execution strategy from the consumer’s perspective, the goal is to reflect the “real voice of consumers” across products and services through global consumer data analysis, product planning based on e-commerce purchase data, and local sensory research.
Lee emphasized that premium means providing valuable products and services based on differentiated quality and earning customer satisfaction and trust through them, adding that to achieve this, the company must evolve into a consumer-centered system that learns and validates quickly by making 1,000 units each of 10 products rather than 10,000 units of one product, the traditional approach.
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