Korea is developing new products fast and furiously. The country continues to be one of the major success stories of the cosmetics industry as evidenced by the 44% uplift in cosmetics exports from Korea from 2015 to 2016, according to Korea Customs Service.

When in-cosmetics Korea returns to Seoul on 20-22 June for its 2017 show, this change will be reflected in its biggest instalment yet. Complementing the wealth of innovation on display, a 100% free-to-attend education programme will feature predominantly international speakers who will share their insights on current trends.

Forecasting will play a huge role in this year’s Marketing Trends & Regulations Theatre, with several of the industry’s leading research and intelligence houses giving visitors the lowdown on the future direction of the cosmetics sector. Kicking off on day one, Sunny Um, Research Analyst at Euromonitor, will delve into premiumisation – one of the latest big trends to sweep the Asian beauty scene. The region contributes to a whopping 60% of global sales, leading the premium skincare trend and registering the world’s fastest growth in 2016. In her session, Sunny will give an overview of the booming market, uncovering key insights and exploring trends, opportunities and the market outlook.

Nikola Matic from Kline will put the global cosmetics industry under the spotlight, focusing particularly on the two largest markets – Europe and America – from an ingredients and finished products perspective. While these markets are still maturing, they continue to offer many opportunities in different niches, which will be explored in more detail in the presentation, as well as the key differences with Asia.

Also looking at major market trends will be Nicole Fall, founder of Asian Consumer Intelligence company fivebyfifty. In her presentation Mega Beauty Trends 2020, Nicole will provide a strategic insight into 10 of the key personal care trends that are set to impact Asia Pacific over the next three years, bringing clarity to the region’s fast changing beauty categories. These include sustainability, naturals, anti-pollution cosmetics, the growth of innovation labs, what’s next for K-Beauty as well as an analysis into how beauty players are bridging the digital and offline shopping experience and creating new touchpoint opportunities in personal care and cosmetics. The growth – and potential threat – of boutique beauty brands will also be covered.

Across the three-day event, several speakers will delve into specific sectors of the industry and the trends taking these areas by storm. Belinda Carli from the Institute of Personal Care Science will examine the future of haircare and styling products, explaining what the next generation should contain and claim, while Nicole Fall will look at business opportunities in the global fragrance market.

Chaewon Lee, Korea Marketing & Sales Manager from Beauty Streams, will provide an exclusive look at make-up colours and textures for spring/summer 2018. This glimpse into the future will be curated for the Korean market, where colour cosmetics is one of the fastest-growing areas. In this part of the world, the increase is driven in part by the growing popularity of BB and CC creams for men, but the presentation will provide inspiration on the next trends to make waves within the industry.

Bringing delegates up to speed with the latest developments in the online beauty industry will be Sanchit Mendiratta, Partner at Happy Marketer. Across two presentations, Sanchit will firstly examine the importance – and potential – of Asia’s vast mobile market, highlighting the wealth of opportunities for cosmetic brands to reach and engage with customers, and secondly advise attendees how to promote their brands online with a session entitled ‘Search engine optimisation for cosmetic brands – the karate approach’. In this presentation, he will explain how to optimise landing pages for search engines and share relevant examples in the personal care industry.

There will also be a series of Cosmetic Science and Technology Seminars as in-cosmetics Korea also caters for the requirements of visitors looking for more scientific details. One such session in this area will be on the development of a new whitening agent employing 3D reconstructed skin model, presented by Kyung-Min, Lim, Associate Professor at Ewha Womans University.

Finally, a roster of Technical Seminars will enable visitors to familiarise themselves with key personal care ingredients and hear from suppliers sharing insights on innovative concepts. At this year’s event, Christina Ho, Marketing Manager, Personal Care – Beauty Formulation at Croda, will look at the company’s Ingredient Integrity Programme which focuses on the need for uniform values throughout the entire supply chain combined with increasing demand for third party verification of compliance.

in-cosmetics Korea will take place at COEX Exhibition Centre in Seoul from 20-22 June 2017. For more information visit www.in-cosmeticskorea.com to register and avoid the queues.