Memebox will no longer sell Korean beauty products to the US

Online Korean beauty shop Memebox was known for selling popular K-beauty products to the United States. However, the retailer revealed it will change its model from selling beauty products to focusing on educating consumers about Korean products through information, reviews and tutorials.

Though it will continue selling K-beauty products to Korea and China, the site will send its US customers to Amazon to shop. According to Memebox founder Dino Ha, the restructuring will turn Memebox into an educational site and search function rather than online shop. “What we learned is that what we really need is the education and the content piece to let the users know what K-beauty really means,” he said. Memebox’s new model will also integrate YouTube tutorials and Instagram posts featuring K-beauty products into its search function, and allow users to search for products based on ingredient or skin type.

With the new model, Memebox will earn money through affiliate links rather than direct sales. It currently has an affiliate agreement with Amazon, and Ha says the brand is in talks to create a similar deal with Sephora.

Ha also says Memebox has seen longer engagement from visitors since introducing YouTube videos to the site. Though the site currently has no official agreement with YouTube or Instagram personalities, Ha says he has received requests from influencers to make their content more visible on Memebox. Eventually, the site may add a live chat feature with influencers.

Memebox still maintains its four private beauty labels, and will soon introduce a fifth, but the site will send US shoppers to Amazon to purchase the products.

Currently, Memebox has 1.5 million customers, and wishes to increase its customer base to 10 million by the end of the year. Ha says the site might see its profits dip with the new model, but hopes to see more engaged users and fruitful partnerships. “Whoever can do the best job sending these products to users is where we’ll partner as much as we can.”