Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Chung Yong-jin, the de facto head of South Korean retail giant Shinsegae has implanted a peculiar concept in South Korea's saturated cosmetics market with Stonebrick, a new color makeup brand that captured the hearts of young trend-savvy consumers.

Specialized in color makeup products such as lipsticks and blushers, Stonebrick offers a never-seen-before Lego-like modulated system which allows customers to choose, match and stack each product like a brick puzzle. The modulated system was designed to maximize the portability of cosmetics products. 

Stonebrick is the second cosmetics brand from Emart, the hypermarket wing of Shinsegae, which launched Sentence, a cost-effective total skincare brand, in 2016. Emart opened the first Stonebrick store in Hongdae, a fashion and trend area in western Seoul on February 14.

"By differentiating our products using three aspects of color, smart and fun, we have successfully landed in the cosmetics market," Stonebrick manager Kim Kye-sook was quoted as saying. Emart attributed Stonebrick's popularity to the brand's strategy which satisfied the taste of trend-savvy consumers in their early 20s.
  Stonebrick products were also popular among young foreign travelers especially from Japan, Emart said, adding that one out of four customers is a foreigner. Japanese tourists love Stonebrick's tiny products and vibrant colors.

No matter who conceived the concept, Chung, who is well known for ingenious ideas, has become the first to promote Stonebrick products by uploading Instagram posts.

Chung's innovative ideas have been materialized into new business opportunities to help Shinsegae diversify its business portfolio with specialty stores that focus on a particular concept. He built a giant luxury and leisure shopping mall called Starfield, opened a French lifestyle boutique hotel in central Seoul and introduced a fleet of autonomous shopping carts.

E-mart has launched private brands such as No Brand, a budget food and daily supplies brand, and Peacock, a premium ready-to-eat food brand. No Brand lowered prices by eliminating the cost of branding and packaging with its lineup of products ranging from potato chips to batteries, notebooks, tissues and microwaves.