Amorepacific pushed Aritaum to 1,300 stores — then closed 306 of them

Aritaum was Amorepacific's multi-brand beauty store chain, carrying products from the group's brands including Laneige, IOPE, and Sulwhasoo alongside other cosmetics. By 2016, the chain had grown to over 1,300 stores across South Korea — mostly small franchise outlets in residential neighbourhoods, competing with CJ Olive Young's larger, experience-driven stores.

The closures began in late 2018, before the pandemic reached Korea. Between late 2018 and August 2020, 306 Aritaum stores were closed. The closures were part of a broader Amorepacific restructuring that saw 661 stores shut across the group — including 204 Innisfree stores and 151 Etude House stores. By August 2020, only 63% of Aritaum's sales still came from physical stores, with 32% online and 5% through Olive Young.

Amorepacific's financial results reflected the severity of the collapse. In Q3 2020, the group's net profit fell 93.1% to 7 billion won ($6.2 million), revenue dropped 22.4% to 1.08 trillion won, and operating profit declined 48% to 56 billion won. The company acknowledged that the pandemic had 'made things drastically worse,' but the closures had started two years before COVID — the structural shift was already underway.

The Aritaum story illustrates the danger of an over-expanded franchise retail model in a market that was already consolidating around a dominant competitor. Amorepacific had built a network of small, undifferentiated outlets that could not compete with CJ Olive Young's curated, experience-driven format, and the shift to online shopping accelerated by the pandemic removed any remaining rationale for the density of physical stores.