CJ Olive Young achieved record-breaking financials in 2021 despite challenges posed by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
CJ Olive Young announced on Feb 24 that they recorded consolidated sales of KRW 2.11 trillion, which is up 13% from last year, and operating profit of KRW 137.8 billion, which is up 38% from last year. This is far above the figures before COVID-19, showing sales boosted by 8% from the previous record in 2019 and the operating profit increased by 57%, demonstrating robust growth potential in both quantity and quality.
Olive Young completes trilateral growth drivers of offline, online, and global, while their omnichannel strategy hits the bullseye.
In particular, offline, online, and global performance all improved despite the ongoing economic downturn, helping Olive Young to complete a solid triangular structure of growth. Amid the slowdown in the launch of new offline distribution stores due to the pandemic, Olive Young managed to open six new stores. Moreover, online business grew rapidly, accounting for 23% of the total earnings in 2021, up from 17% in 2020.
Such a remarkable feat was made possible through the strong commitment of Olive Young aimed at innovating the customer experience. A leading example is the omnichannel strategy that created a seamless experience for customers across offline and online channels. The same-day delivery service launched in the end of 2018 also showed escalating growth, solidifying Olive Young’s position as the top omnichannel operator of last year.
The volume of same-day deliveries made through offline stores from online orders in Seoul accounts for 38%. Olive Young plans to expand the operation of micro fulfillment centers (MFC) this year separately to the 1,265 stores nationwide to further increase the coverage of quick delivery in Greater Seoul by up to 70%. For the first time in the company history, Olive Young will conduct a large-scale renewal of 250 stores.
The number of loyal customers, mainly composed of Millennials and Gen Z, showed noticeable growth, which is also a distinctive strength of Olive Young. Last year, the company collected over 10 million product reviews on its online store, while the mobile app was downloaded up to 10 million times, reaching 10 million memberships. This helped Olive Young become a so-called a triple 10 million platform.
The global operations are also demonstrating tangible results thanks to the digital transformation strategy that was followed in response to the rapidly changing trends. Sales from Olive Young’s global mall, which is a hub for K-beauty and a reverse direct purchase platform, and affiliated malls in Japan (Rakuten and Qoo10) expanded by triple digits and led the global performance. This year, Olive Young plans to secure 1 million members overseas just in the global mall.
“We will place the highest priority on innovations, while evolving into an omnichannel lifestyle platform.”
An Olive Young officer said, “We will place the highest priority on innovations aimed at offering a valuable experience to our customers, while evolving into an omnichannel lifestyle platform that pursues healthy beauty. We will make bold investments to discover new growth engines, such as the expansion of categories, to continue to record the highest performance.”
