Every 0.9 seconds during store operating hours, a foreign-customer purchase is made at an Olive Young store in Korea.
CJ Olive Young recorded 11.01 million foreign-customer transactions from January through August 2026. Foreign customers also spent more than KRW 1 trillion at the retailer's Korean offline stores during the same period.
But the more useful question is not how often they buy. It is what ends up in the basket - and why.
By the numbers
11.01 million - Foreign-customer transactions, Jan.-Aug. 2026
KRW 1 trillion+ - Foreign purchases at Korean Olive Young stores
6 products - Average number of products purchased per transaction
35% - Share spending at least KRW 100,000 in one purchase
192 countries - Nationalities represented in Global Tax Free purchase data
33% - Foreign customers' share of Olive Young offline sales as of August 2026, up from 2% in 2022
Skincare, color cosmetics and hair care were the three most popular categories among foreign customers.
Sheet masks: test first, then buy in bulk
Asia Business Daily interviewed Melissa, a 28-year-old visitor from Canada, at Olive Young's Haeundae LCT store in 2025 while she was holding several Mediheal sheet masks.
She said she had seen different versions on Instagram before arriving in Korea and planned to try them first, then buy the ones that suited her in bulk.
The purchase decision starts before the tourist enters the store: social media creates awareness, and the Korean store becomes the place to compare, test and buy.
Sunscreen and soothing skincare
In Myeongdong in May 2026, Asia Business Daily interviewed Yuki, a Japanese visitor in her 20s, who said she came to test products she had already seen on Japanese social media.
She had mainly bought sheet masks before. This time she was looking for sunscreen and soothing skincare.
Olive Young said foreign sales of dermocosmetic skincare rose about 78% year on year from January through August 2026, while inner-beauty sales rose 64%.
Some shoppers arrive with the list already written
Maeil Business Newspaper interviewed a French visitor named Lisa in Myeongdong in 2025. She said she had arrived with a list of recommended products she intended to buy.
That helps explain why Olive Young functions differently from an ordinary drugstore for many tourists.
TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, overseas retailers and recommendations may create the list before the flight. Olive Young is where that demand becomes an in-person purchase.
What we still do not know
Company sales data can show which categories are growing. Reported interviews can show how individual tourists think.
But neither tells us product by product what foreign shoppers actually repurchase after returning home.
That is the next question for SEEN IN KOREA.
Our next phase will ask international visitors directly what they bought, what influenced the choice, what they actually used - and what they would buy again.