So I've noticed that the term roadshop is not a very common term here in the states as it is overseas. There is also no Wikipedia article on it. We have a blog that has a good breakdown of what roadshops are from a Korean perspective, but it is near the middle of that post, and I thought it should be a post on its own since people are curious on what we mean when we say that we are trying to replicate the roadshopping experience of Myeong-dong and bring it to the States. Considering that, we're starting a series of journal entries that we're calling A Hallyupedia Wiki. This first entry will be on roadshops. Enjoy!
A roadshop is pretty straight forward. It's a shop on a road. But it is utilized to reference a category, sales channel, or price point. Similar to the west when talking about Korean cosmetics, there are generally two price points and sales channels:
A department store brand will be higher-end, upscale, and at a higher price point. Not much difference here. Some brands in this level are History of Whoo or Sulwhasoo.
Roadshop brands are sometimes called drugstore makeup/cosmetics or mass-market cosmetics, but drugstores are a bit different in Korea than the ones you see in the US. Here in the US, the price-point for drugstore lines is much narrower than the price-points for roadshop lines. Drugstore makeup examples in the states are brands like Cover Girl and Maybelline. For roadshops, you can be talking about any brand that ranges from the single digits up to the $60 range. This price-point melds a CVS with an Ulta with a Sephora into one category.
The cosmetics industry in Korea is hyper-competitive and saturated. Due to this, these roadshop brands had to be innovative in their approach to stand out from the crowd. They did this with branding /packaging and forward-thinking in how ingredients are used and processed. For example, Goodal utilizes a patented fermentation technology on seed oils. Labiotte utilizes their own fermented extraction of truffles in their formula. Also, roadshop brands were able to replicate the results of the higher-end department store level brands at a roadshop price-point. One of the most well-known examples of this is Missha's (a roadshop brand) Time Revolution series and Japan's famous SK-II (a higher end department store brand) Facial Treatment Essence.
Innovations in Kbeauty packaging and design has been widely lauded and awarded. Peripera is a brand which markets toward a younger and bolder demographic. They enlisted the help of Korean contemporary artist Mari Kim and her famous “eyedolls” to instill a presence in their packaging.
Myeong-dong is the shopping and tourist epicenter of Seoul, Korea. It is here where you'll find this street lined with “roadshops”. You can literally walk a few feet and shop multiple roadshops in person. Currently in Texas, you are limited to the Faceshop and a few Asian markets here and there, or shopping online. This is what we are striving to change. Our goal at Hallyu Cosmetics is to replicate the “roadshopping” experience of Myeong-dong and infuse the charm and loveliness inherent in Texas.
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