‘We want to reach all skin care lovers’: AXIS-Y aims to expand its reach in North America ‘beyond K-beauty’ niche

North America is one of the fastest-growing markets for AXIS-Y today.

The brand is accessible online through platforms such as Amazon and Olive Young Global.
It has an expanding footprint through speciality beauty stores that are more Asian beauty centric.

It is also available through department store chain Marshalls primarily on the East Coast of the United States.

Speaking to CosmeticsDesign-Asia, AXIS-Y’s global marketing assistant manager, Kidan Altayework, explained that K-beauty brands like AXIS-Y is not as ubiquitous in markets like South East Asia, where the brand can be found both online and in health and beauty retail stores.

“We’re trying to get more of a mainstream presence rather than just stay in the bubble of being a Korean beauty brand. Ideally, we want to be in as mainly local stores in North America, just like how we are in markets like Malaysia. Fans of K-beauty love the brand, but we want to reach all skin care lovers,” said Altayework.

In addition to growing its retail presence online and offline, expanding its influencer network is also a priority.

“These days, you need to work with influencers to get exposure. We’ve worked with K-beauty creators, but we want to work with more beauty creators so that we can get more exposure. If you work only with people in the K-beauty niche, you lock yourself within a bubble,” said Altayework.

She stressed that the emphasis on influencer marketing was extremely important in reaching the brand’s Gen Z audience.

“The influence of Gen Z has on product exposure is enormous. You can have the best packaging, the best ingredients, but it’s about who is advocating for your products. Right now, Gen Z is the strongest voice out there.”

In addition to online marketing, the brand has also had offline activations to increase its visibility and meet its consumers.

While AXIS-Y is a South Korean brand, its strongest markets are in SEA, with its biggest market being Malaysia.

“We started with Malaysia, it is our most developed market. We went viral at one point and then it just became our strongest market,” said Altayework.

The company attributes its success in SEA to the advent of TikTok and its livestreaming strategy.

“For our teams in Malaysia and Indonesia, they do livestreams and it tends to work very well. It works well with conversions and sales. TikTok Shop has become a very big thing.” said Altayework.

However, it has found that this cannot be replicated in North America.

“If we try to implement this strategy in North America, it doesn’t work well. But for places like Indonesia, the audience just loves it.”