THE WHAT? AmorePacific-owned Hera has announced that it is pulling out of the Chinese market, according to a report published by the Global Times.

THE DETAILS The K-beauty brand will close all physical stores and suspended online sales via its official Wechat store last week. Its Tmall flagship will continue to trade.

THE WHY? AmorePacific has scaled back operations in China for a number of its brand, notably Innisfree also closed some 80 percent of stores on the mainland at the start of the year, per Global Times. The closures have been attributed to both the pandemic and the Chinese consumer’s changing buying habits.

Zhang Yi, CEO of iiMedia Research Institute told Global Times, “While the consumption habits and concepts of Chinese are changing, these South Korean cosmetics have not changed. Their designs and marketing strategies have not changed, failing to adapt to the sales and marketing landscape in the Chinese market.”