Founded in Seoul on November 15, 1988, Gao Li Yana was originally named Sharon (사랑스) cosmetics, riding on the East Wind of the Seoul Olympic Games, and renamed Gao Li Yana (코리아나/Koreana/Gao Li Yana) on January 17, 1989, with the same name as the Olympic theme song "Hand in Hand", and was officially registered as a trademark in 1990. Goryeo Yana is an English combination of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war and art in Korean and ancient Greek mythology, which also means "Goryeo beauty". In 1996, because the English name of North Korea was originally "Corea", and international big names such as Chanel (Chanel) and Christian Dior mostly began with the "C" letter, Gao Liyana's English name was changed to "Coréana", which is conducive to promoting national feelings and entering the international market, and also has a clear distinction with another old "Korean cosmetics company" (Korea Cosmetics), and the name change conforms to the general psychology of Koreans at that time. It is also easy to impress, the C-shaped leaf LOGO and the new name were released at the same time, and Gao Liyana won the Korea Excellent CI Design Award that year. At the same time, because natural raw cosmetics began to rise in developed countries, Gao Liyana proposed the corporate concept of "Art through Nature" and used it to this day.
Gao Li Yana had two founders: Yu Xiangyu (유상옥/兪相玉, 1933- ) and Yin Xijin (윤석김/Yin Xijin, 1945-).
Born in a poor family, Yu Sang-yu joined Dongya Pharmaceutical after graduating from The Business School of Korea University in 1959, and later served as a director and vice president of sales, and in 1977, he became the CEO of Romei Cosmetics Co., Ltd. of East Asia Group, successfully turning around Romei and continuing to make profits for many years, with sales of 50 billion won during the peak period, romei became a shining star in the Korean cosmetics industry in the 1980s, and entered the international market. In 1987, the Roh Tae-woo government issued the 6.29 Manifesto, which relaxed the labor movement, because the wages were lower than other subsidiaries of the East Asia Group, Luo Mei was caught in a labor dispute, and after the employees won the victory, Yu Xiangyu was transferred to East Asia Glass, a company that focused on the group's internal business, and the management work was described as "lying down to eat rice cakes", just stamping the documents and everything was fine. Yu Sang-woo, who advocated learning and hard work, worked in East Asia for decades, earning an MBA, DBA degree, and certified public accountant qualification, and he did not want to survive this almost unearned job until retirement, so he also joined the list of labor rights complainants, and finally left in 1988 after receiving a severance payment of up to 100 million won.
Yoon Seok Kim is one of the most well-known self-made starters in South Korea, his career began in the Encyclopedia Britannica Korea Company, is one of the best salesmen in the history of the series, after leaving his post to found Kumajin Publishing Company and quickly grew, Kuma Jin began to diversify in the late 1980s, has invested in Coway and other well-known brands, Yoon Seok Kim and Yu Sang-yu met at a business management meeting, one needs funds, one needs experience, the two are ChungcheongNam-do fellow countrymen, are sales masters, so they feel sorry for each other, a hit Soon, Gao Li Yana was established, and the company was controlled by Xiong Jin, but gave Yu Xiangyu the right to operate independently and autonomously. At the age of 55, Yu Sang-woo embarked on the road to entrepreneurship, setting a record for the oldest entrepreneur in the history of the Korean cosmetics industry.
Between 1961 and 1982, South Korea implemented a strict "Ban on the Sale of Certain Foreign Products Act", almost all imports of cosmetics and raw materials were prohibited, after the opening of the market in 1983, foreign brands quickly entered South Korea, bringing advanced technology and business philosophy, raw material imports are also convenient, just a few years, cosmetics companies mushroomed, from about 50 to more than 800. The high-end market share is small and is soon monopolized by international brands. Although the low-end market is fiercely competitive, South Korea's per capita GDP increased by more than 3 times in the 1980s, people's incomes increased simultaneously, purchasing power expanded, and the cosmetics industry was generally optimistic.
Before the official establishment of Gao Li Yana, Yu Xiangyu learned from a French supplier of Romei Cosmetics that Yves Rocher was going to enter South Korea, so he immediately went to France alone, through superb negotiation skills and personal charm, on August 8, 1988, on the auspicious day, he won the exclusive agency right of Yves LiXue Korea for 5 years, after several renewals, the two cooperative relations were maintained for about 20 years, Yves Li Xue is not only a guarantee of long-term performance. In 2003, she became the fourth largest shareholder of Gauri Yana.
Yu Xiangyu is known as "a man who can make up", often with employees to study products, before the release of new products, will always personally try many times, he attaches great importance to the construction of cultural soft power, since the time of Luomei cosmetics, it began to collect a variety of items related to the history and culture of cosmetics, collectibles from the Three Kingdoms era of the Korean Peninsula to modern times, the time span of about 2000 years, a variety of cosmetics, cosmetic containers, women's accessories, space decorations, etc. Everything, by 2003, the collection has exceeded 5,000 pieces, On November 20, 2003, the Gauliana Cosmetics Museum was opened, and the museum has played a huge role in promoting the traditional Korean makeup culture. In 2009, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the National Museum of Korea, Yu Sang-woo donated more than 200 pieces of the collection, the largest private donor, and the South Korean government awarded him the 2009 "Jade Crown Cultural Medal" (옥관문화훈장/Jade Crown Cultural Medal) in recognition of his contributions to the cultural and artistic circles.
Yu Sang-woo, who greatly respects Confucianism and adheres to the fine traditions of "the right way" and "the way of pure gambling", began to write in the late 1970s, and is a well-known writer in Korean business circles, and has been the vice chairman of the Korean Essayists Association since 2009 and an adjunct professor at many universities.
In 1996, Yoo Sang-woo was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Korea Business Administration, President of the Korea Cosmetics Industry Association from 1995 to 2003, and 9th President of the Korea Museum Association from 2002 to 2005.
Gauri Yana products
Gao Li Yana attaches great importance to production and R & D innovation, at the beginning of the business, cosmetics production license is difficult to obtain, the company's registered capital is only 100 million won, Yu Xiangyu actually for 150 million won to acquire a small cosmetics company with only a few hundred square meters of factory buildings, to obtain a license, the new factory began construction at the same time. On March 10, 1989, only 4 months after the establishment of the company, the earliest shampoo shampoo in South Korea "Bubble Shampoo" (바블바블블 샴푸) was born in Gauliana, the product positioning was high-end, but the sales were not ideal at first, fortunately, with the income of Yves Lixue to maintain, the company's revenue for the year was 1.4 billion won, and the net profit was 51 million, which was a good start. In June 1990, the new plant was completed and the original plant was closed after only one year. On December 11, 1996, Gauliana was certified as the industry's first "Standard for Excellence in Cosmetic Manufacturing and Quality Control" (CGMP).
In October 1995, Gauliana set up an R&D center, and then successively reached technical cooperation with Yves Rocher of France, Mustela, Schwarzkopf of Germany, and KOSE of Japan. In recent years, the company's R & D investment accounts for about 3-4% of sales, the average annual release of more than 200 kinds of new products, in the industry is a high level, the company is good at developing a variety of local natural plant ingredients, at home and abroad to obtain nearly 500 patents.
Spokesperson Cai Shina, 1991-2006
Gao Li Yana attaches great importance to marketing and management model innovation, based on decades of rich sales experience, Yu Xiangyu gave up the original direct sales model through agents to sell, the introduction of the real "direct sales system" (직접판매 방식 / Sale Direct System), direct training and management of direct salesmen, direct salesmen can get most of the original payment to agents, really professional beauty consultants can get good performance, the company's product positioning is high-end, rarely discounted, only support cash transactions, The strict implementation of product differentiation across channels greatly increased the industry threshold, which was very different from the popular "discount corner" sales method at the time, and Gao Liyana also invented the "family gathering" (가족 모임 / family gathering) customer communication and sales method, which was a great success, and in 1994 won the Korean Society of Operations and Management Sciences (KORMS) Marketing Frontier Award.
In 1991, Galeria Koryana introduced the CCM (Corporate Customer Communication Management) system for the first time in the Korean cosmetics industry.
In the early 1990s, Gao Li Yana signed an endorsement contract with the well-known film star Lee Mi Sook (이미숙, 1960-), Cai Shina (채시라/Cai Shina, 1968-), which began on December 31, 1991 and ended at the end of 2006, lasting 15 years, creating a Guinness record in the history of cosmetics endorsements, and the contract between the two parties even affected tax regulations, and in 1998, Cai Shina's contract renewed the contract caused a tax dispute. Since then, South Korea has defined the income of entertainers as operating income. In 1992, Choi Shi-na pointed her nose at the end of the advertising song and whispered out Gao Liyana, which is one of the picture of the song in the history of Korean advertising, and after the advertisement was released, it attracted a sharp increase in sales, with sales of about 25 billion won that year.
In 1993, Gao Li Yana launched Korea's first beauty mud mask (진흙팩/Mud Pack), the main raw materials imported from the United States, the advertising slogan "mask mud to achieve your beauty" (진흙이 미인을 만들어요), the product is easy to clean, more suitable for the skin quality of Koreans the publicity has been successful, the annual sales of a single product exceeded 30 billion won, basically occupying the original market of the Dead Sea mask, Gao Lina was established 5 years ago to successfully create explosive products, and the explosion also led to the sales of other products. Gauri Yana sold 134 billion won that year, an increase of 300% year-on-year, ranking third among local companies after Pacific and Korean cosmetics companies. Since then, Gao Liyana has embarked on a high-speed development path, and the financial crisis in 1997 has not slowed down, with sales of more than 200 billion won that year, but the parent company Kumajin Group has fallen into a financial crisis after more than ten years of blind expansion. On December 8, 1999, Gao Li Yana was listed on KOSDAQ, Xiong Jin chose to withdraw to save himself, the Yu Xiangyu family became the largest shareholder and actual controller, XiongJin Group promised not to enter the cosmetics market within 10 years, Yin Xijin obeyed the gentleman's covenant, and finally entered the cosmetics market again in 2009.
During the economic crisis, small and medium-sized cosmetics companies have collapsed, the industry shows oligopolistic characteristics, TOP3 companies occupy nearly half of the market, TOP10 is to reach 70%, in order to get out of the crisis, the government implemented economic policies to encourage consumption, at the turn of the century, Gao Li Yana went to the highlight moment, in 1999 the market share reached 13.1%, more than half a century of LG life health, second only to the Pacific Ocean ranked second. In 2001, Gauri Yana and Japan's Gossy established a Korean joint venture, with sales reaching a record high of 343.6 billion won.
In 1999, the company obtained the "ASTRA CLASSIC" trademark license from Samsung Properties, entered the sports cosmetics market, and cooperated with well-known software companies to establish a cosmetics portal for women, which kept up with the trend of the times, but the company relied too much on direct sales, and ultimately made the transformation and reform fall short.
Spokesperson Xue Renya, 2018 to present
From 2002 to 2004, South Korea, which has not yet come out of the Asian financial crisis, broke out again, consumption shrank rapidly, Gao Liyana sales were almost waist-cutting, in 2004 there were only 151.3 billion won left, and since then it has been in a slump, the 4th largest shareholder, Yves LiXue, has quickly withdrawn after holding only one year, and the direct sales staff have also left due to business difficulties, and after nearly two decades, Gao Lina's sales have long hovered around 100 billion won, basically in a state of loss or small profit, in 2011, Even the headquarters office buildings were forced to be sold. In 2015, Amoree gained a near-monopoly position with a market share of 52%, and the former challenger Gao Liyana had only 1.8% of the market share, and was once caught in rumors of pyramid schemes and fraud. In 2020, sales fell to less than 90 billion won due to the epidemic, and employees shrank by more than 80% compared with their peak period.
From the 1990s to the beginning of the century, the Korean cosmetics industry underwent earth-shaking changes, many established cosmetics companies collapsed, the ODM model began to mature, Kolmar, Cosmax and other ODM giants rose, sales exceeded many small and medium-sized brand companies, and brand and manufacturing separation became the mainstream of the industry. After the financial crisis in 1997, South Korea implemented the national strategy of cultural industry, the Korean Wave went to Asia, which greatly promoted the development of fashion industries such as cosmetics, new brands have emerged, cosmetics companies have developed to thousands, but there are only more than 100 independent production capacity, most of which are entrusted to ODM manufacturers. Because the technical level is far behind the advanced countries in Europe and the United States, Korean cosmetics can not participate in high-end market competition, can only take the cost-effective and marketing brand road, fierce competition, around 2005, The face shop, Ari Hut and other low-cost fashion brands rose, Coréana, Korean cosmetics, Julia, PEERES, EVAS, Nadley, Romeo and other 90s well-known brands gradually into the predicament, soon forgotten.
It is a pity that Yu Xiangyu, who has decades of beauty experience, did not perceive the huge changes in the development of the industry, he believes that cosmetics are the art that makes people beautiful, must adhere to high quality and high prices, low prices have no way out, so they refuse to enter the low-end market, but also stick to the untimely direct sales channels, long-term independent production of most products, high cost, Gao Lina is difficult to get out of the swamp of long-term downturn, the brand image is solidified as "good quality, but very expensive." After the 2008 global financial crisis, Gao Liyana experienced several years of losses, but competitors such as Amore and LG Life Health achieved steady growth through low-cost brands and maintained their industry status.
In the year of the 2008 financial crisis, oppenheimer's fund became the largest single shareholder of Gauriyana, and through continuous acquisitions, by 2010, the shareholding ratio was very close to that of the founder's family. In 2013, the market has been rumored that Gao Li Yana will be acquired by Q Capital Fund, New World Department Store and a Chinese company, in the life and death of the situation, Gao Li Yana finally released the low-price brand Seneti (세니떼 / Senite) and opened to join, which is almost ten years behind competitors, Sini did not produce any popular products, in the store less than 100 when it quickly declined, at this time, Amore, LG Life Health began to focus on the development of high-end brands such as Snowflake Show, Whoo , ready to quickly get out of the shadow of the THAD event.
Gao Li Yana has good R & D capabilities and manufacturing genes, after many years of decline in brand business, in May 2012 launched the Tianjin factory ODM project, in 2014 and the establishment of a professional ODM company Coreana Bio, in 2016, ODM business finally turned a profit, but Kolmar, Cosmax and other giants have already established extremely high industry barriers, market share is difficult to open, in the following years, ODM accounted for less than 1/3 of the company's revenue.
In the 33-year history of Gao Liyana, only about 10 years can stand at the forefront of industry development, more than 20 years can not grasp the pulse of the industry, even did not implement the follow-up strategy, always make inappropriate decisions, but still adhere to the main business of cosmetics, and has thousands of direct sales staff, showing tenacious vitality.
Yu Xiangyu has 3 children, the eldest son Yu Xuesu (유학수, 1960-) joined the company in 1998 as a director, and in 2008 took over his father's POSITION as CEO for 30 years, becoming the de facto manager of the company. Daughter Yu Seung-hee (유승희/兪承希, 1964 -) became director of the Gauri Yana Cosmetics Museum in 2003, and second son, Yoo Min-so (유민수), became CEO of Switch, a group-affiliated advertising company, in 2004.
The three brothers and sisters from the left in the picture below are Yu Xuesu, Yu Chengxi, and Yu Minxiu
Yu Xiangyu still holds the position of president of the company, but has gradually faded since 2015. Yu Xuesu and his father have an MB degree from Korea University Business School, took over the company for more than ten years, various reforms and adjustments have not achieved obvious results, sales have always been maintained near 100 billion won, almost no profits and dividends, in order to inherit smoothly, the family continues to sell shares, in 1999, when the company was listed, the family held 28.92% of the shares, by the first quarter of 2021 it fell to only 14.34%, the main shareholders are Yu Sangyu, Yu Xuesu, Yu Chengxi father and son 3 people, Yu Xuesu exclusively 5.84%. It is the largest single shareholder.
In 1993, Gao Li Yana entered overseas, first set up a Japanese subsidiary, and then entered the Chinese market in 1995, and in the years at the end of the century, overseas business was mainly carried out through trade, and the export performance remained in the millions of dollars.
In November 2004, Gao Liyana opened its first overseas factory in Tianjin, China, the factory has been operating independently for a long time, not merged with listed companies, mainly exported to South Korea to save production costs, not only ten years later than Amore, but also turned a blind eye to the huge Chinese market, missed a good opportunity to turn around. Gao Li Yana has long been operating in China under the three major brands of "nokdu", "entia" and "Zain" in China under the licensing model, and in September 2007, the first self-operated brand "Mipl" (미플) beauty shop opened in Shanghai Easy Buy Shopping Center, planning to do a big job but soon disappeared, until April 2012, the core brand "Coreana" came to China.
At present, in the third class cosmetics trademark, "mung bean" is held by Zexi Brand Management (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., Gaoli Yana Cosmetics Co., Ltd. and related parties, "Ziren" is held by Ziren (Shanghai) Cosmetics Co., Ltd. and related parties, "Gaoli Yana" and "Ensha" are held by GaoLi Yana Co., Ltd., and other brands Celenique, LAVIDA, ORTHIA, Tenseconds, ARTPIA, Senite (Seneti) etc. have not entered the Chinese market or have withdrawn.
Direct sales has never become the mainstream of the Chinese market, Gao Li Yana not only lags behind other Korean cosmetics in physical stores and brand operations, online operations are late, on July 21, 2015, Gao Li Yana and NetEase Koala reached a cooperation, entered Taobao in 2018, and entered Tmall International in 2020, all far behind competitors.
In 2020, Gao Li Yana won the "Chinese Favorite Korean Brand Award" issued by The People's Daily Korea Company and the Korean Marketing Association, and the marketing traces seem to be too obvious.
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