K-Beauty Insight Lab: Deciphering Regulatory, ODM, and Retail Dynamics

Korean cosmetics reached 202 countries in 2025, and the ten largest markets took 70.7% of an $11.4 billion total. No African market appears in the published breakdown. On 28 September 2026 Clicks Group agreed to pay R507 million, about $30.7 million, for control of ARC, a 12-store South African chain whose own K-Beauty page carries seventeen brands and whose newest arrivals are Korean. The shelf that Korea’s export table does not name is the one a retail group just bought.