Data from Turkish e-commerce player Trendyol reveals that sales of South Korean cosmetics on its platform are up fivefold from last year, Nikkei Asia reports.

The news points to the K-beauty industry’s thriving export market. According to Alibaba-backed Trendyol, which began selling K-beauty in 2018, 2020 was a “milestone year” for the category: the company sold over 665,000 K-beauty products, up from 135,000 in 2019, and beat last year’s sales volume this April.

K-pop, combined with a proliferation of e-commerce and influencer recommendations are said to be behind the boom. Korea’s cosmetics exports to the Middle East hit $7.8 million in June, up from $7 million in June 2020 and $4.3 million in June 2019, according to Korean trade authorities. The region is still a small market compared to China, the US and Japan, but demand is growing fast.

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