AP Aibi sold ¥4,279 Korean luxury into a market that reads it as cheap

In July 2024 Amorepacific opened AP Aibi's first mainland-China store at the Jing'an Jiuguang department store in Shanghai, a premium skincare line priced from ¥419 to ¥4,279. The launch read as a serious go-to-market: a flagship counter, a Tmall store, and a WeChat mini-program.

The premium pitch never took. The Tmall store carried only 7-10 products, had fewer than 500 followers, and its best-seller, the “Dual Repair Firming Cream,” sold about 50 units. Korean beauty reads as affordable in China, so a new Korean name trying to sell at ¥4,000 had no goodwill to draw on and almost no marketing support behind it.

By mid-November 2025, barely over a year later, every channel showed “closed for upgrade” — the Tmall store, the WeChat mini-program, and the offline Jiuguang boutique. Amorepacific's China arm called it “an active adjustment of the group's brand portfolio strategy” and said it was optimizing resource allocation.

The rest of the company was fine: Greater China revenue grew 8.5% in Q3 2025 to about ¥520 million, and Amorepacific pivoted to the value brand Aestura at ¥100-200. No A.P. brand made Tmall's beauty TOP20 or Douyin's skincare TOP20 at Double 11 2025 — the premium experiment simply had no audience.

Opened a flagship counter, Tmall store, and WeChat mini-program, but the best-seller sold 50 units and all channels closed within 15 months.

Entered a market where Korean beauty is priced as affordable, yet positioned the brand at ¥419-¥4,279 — a price the market would not accept from a new Korean name.

Launched with almost no audience: fewer than 500 followers and a 50-unit best-seller show the brand reached nearly nobody.

Confused opening a channel with building a brand — a counter and a Tmall store are distribution, not a premium identity.

A premium price is a claim you must fund. Launching a ¥4,000 Korean brand into a market that buys Korean beauty at ¥100 with no war chest is paying for distribution, not building a brand.

By mid-November 2025 all AP Aibi channels in mainland China were closed, and Amorepacific framed it as an active portfolio adjustment aimed at optimizing resources. The group shifted focus to the value brand Aestura (¥100-200) across Tmall, Douyin, JD and Vipshop, while its Greater China revenue still grew 8.5% in Q3 2025 to about ¥520 million.