Lee Jae-hyun, Chairman of CJ Group, stated that the company must become a global leader in K-lifestyle, filling the daily lives of people worldwide with content, food, and beauty. CJ aims to increase its North American sales from over 8 trillion won last year to 12 trillion won by 2028, connecting the fandom created by K-content to everyday consumption of K-food and K-beauty.
On August 15, CJ held a presentation in Glendale, Los Angeles, to unveil its mid-to-long-term strategy for the North American market, focusing on a 'second-stage growth' plan that organically links food, content, and beauty, moving beyond its previous strategy of localization and expanding production and distribution infrastructure.
From August 14, Lee visited the 'KCON LA 2026' event, the first 'Olive Young Festa' held in the U.S., and the 'K-COLLECTION' initiative supporting the overseas expansion of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises. This visit comes about three months after he inspected CJ's U.S. operations in May.
Lee emphasized, "Just as CJ's cultural business began 30 years ago with the belief that 'culture is the future,' we must now advance as a 'global K-lifestyle leader' that enriches the daily lives of people through content, food, and beauty."
CJ's goal is to achieve 12 trillion won in North American sales by 2028. Last year's sales exceeded 8 trillion won, marking a tenfold increase from approximately 800 billion won in 2017. As of the first half of this year, cumulative investment in North America has reached 9.7 trillion won.
The key to this growth is the 'monetization of K-fandom.' The strategy aims to connect consumers who have developed an interest in Korean culture through K-pop, movies, and dramas to Korean food and K-beauty products.
A survey conducted by CJ in December among 1,000 U.S. consumers revealed that 30% had experience consuming K-food, K-beauty, K-pop, and K-content. The percentage of respondents who had experienced two or more K-categories was 75%. CJ views this as a signal that K-culture consumption centered around fandom is expanding into everyday areas like food and beauty.
CJ America CEO Heo Min-hwa stated, "We will accelerate our North American market strategy by building an ecosystem that connects the popularity of the K-wave to K-lifestyle experiences based on our portfolio in food, content, and beauty."
In terms of business strategy, CJ CheilJedang will strengthen its presence in the mainstream U.S. food market with its 'Bibigo' brand. The company plans to expand its growth from dumplings to include products like cooked rice, chicken, seaweed snacks, kimchi, and K-sauces, leveraging its competitive edge in frozen foods to enter the ambient product market.
In the beauty sector, Olive Young will play a key role in expanding its connection with local consumers. On May 29, Olive Young opened its first offline store in Pasadena, California, along with a dedicated online mall for the U.S. market, featuring over 5,000 products from approximately 400 K-beauty and wellness brands.
The 'Olive Young Festa LA 2026' was also set up on a scale of about 4,700 square meters, featuring 55 K-beauty and lifestyle brands. This marks the first time Olive Young has held a festa in the U.S., following a similar event in Japan in May, as it expands experiential K-beauty events into the global market.
KCON serves as a connecting link for content. Launched in the U.S. in 2012, KCON has combined K-pop performances with experiential content like K-food and K-beauty. Last year, KCON LA attracted 125,000 visitors over three days, with 107 companies operating 358 booths.
CJ plans to integrate consumer touchpoints from KCON, Bibigo, and Olive Young, expanding collaborative brand marketing and business model partnerships. The goal is to convert interest in content into repeat purchases of food and beauty products, creating a virtuous cycle that connects back to offline cultural experiences.
Kim Jin-sik, CEO of CJ America, stated, "We will expand interest in K-content into habitual and repeat consumption of K-food and K-beauty, creating a virtuous cycle that leads back to offline cultural experiences. We will organically connect consumer touchpoints from KCON, Bibigo, and Olive Young."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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