Low-end Korean cosmetics brand shops in crisis ?

There are many low-mid priced cosmetic brands in Korea such as Skinfood, Etude House, The Face Shop,and Missha.
Sales of these low-end cosmetics brand shops in Seoul are heavily dependent on foreign customers especially Japanese tourists.
But due to Japanese currency, yen’s recent weakening put them in a crisis situation.

The weak yen stands to have a major impact on the most of cosmetic shops situated at Myeong-dong, most crowded shopping district of seoul as well.
Cosmetic shop owner who has been operating in Myeong-dong for a long time said, "Many of B,C-class stores which located inside alley are already closed since yen weakening started early last year, at some stores's sales was decreased more than 30% and recently even sales of A-class stores which located on main street of Myung dong has decreased significantly"

Also, according to the Ministry of Justice, 2,533,000 Japanese tourists visited Korea last year until November. These figures are the lowest since 2009.

During last few years, too many low-end cosmetics brand shops have been popping up in korea due to the sudden increase in foreign tourists. These shops and brands maintained high sales growth until competition begins to overheat recently and eventually lead to domestic sales decline due to too many sales which leads to korean customers's suspicion over quality of low-end cosmetics products.

Now low-middle priced cosmetics companies and retail shops have to endure the excessive bleeding with recent yen weakening and noticeable decrease of japanese tourist as well.

Many officials at industry insist that in order to escape from their current crisis, they should be focusing on product development and quality assurance to regain the confidence and trust of domestic consumers to increase overall sales even if it may take some time.