Japan's 7-Eleven operates K-beauty curation corner 'Q10 Pick'... Targeting young customers

“Many 7-Eleven customers are in their 40s and 50s, and Korean brands are targeting the younger generation to visit the store (through product sales).”

Tsukasa Kikuchi, MD of Japan's 7-Eleven Product Division, said this in an interview with Korean media on the 30th of last month.

Since the 26th of last month, Japanese convenience store 7-Eleven has been operating a corner called ‘Q11 Pick’ that curates and sells K-beauty products in stores nationwide.

This corner is presented in collaboration with 'Q10 Japan', an online platform that sells K-beauty products in Japan, and sells 21 products from 8 brands, including AOU, Growers, Skin & Lab, Skin 1004, Sen24, Tip Tow, 23 Years Old, and Parnell.

Product prices generally range from 400 to 1,500 yen (3,400 to 13,000 won).

We planned to make K-beauty products that received attention online available offline as well.

MD Kikuchi said, “It is a combination of Q10’s ability to discover trends and our store configuration and store network,” and added, “We have prepared a lineup that is differentiated from existing products, such as mini-sized products and limited colors.”

MD Kikuchi emphasized, “This is a collaboration to meet young customers and strengthen the K-beauty category. Korean cosmetics are very popular with young customers. 7-Eleven is weak among young customers, so we want to strengthen this area.”

He added, “We are trying to increase the number of young visitors overall, including not only K-beauty products, but also medical products and miscellaneous goods.”

7-Eleven and Q11 Japan plan to renew Q11 Pick products three times a year, taking into account product sales data and the latest trends.

Korean cosmetics have recently become popular among Japanese people in their teens and twenties.

Basic products for skin care, makeup products that help express natural skin, and color lip products are spreading word of mouth through SNS, and sales are increasing mainly at local offline malls such as Loft and Don Quijote.

However, in order to solve the problem of having to go to a major or large offline shopping store to purchase K-beauty products, 7-Eleven and eBay Japan, the operator of Q11 Japan, began operating a K-beauty curation corner.

Wakako Nakamura, corporate partnership and event manager at eBay Japan, said, "I think it would be great to become a new point of contact between Korean brands and Japanese customers, with (customers) not only learning about products online but also seeing them in person offline."