Consumers test new cosmetic products at the 2022 Olive Young Awards & Festa at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Dec. 14. Courtesy of CJ Olive Young

By Kim Jae-heun

CJ Olive Young is hosting the 2022 Olive Young Awards & Festa at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday.

This is the fourth year for the nation's largest beauty and drug store chain to hold the event and about 20,000 visitors are expected.

"We have sold tickets online for 10 sessions from Dec. 14 to 18 and 20,000 people have registered for it," a CJ Olive Young official said. "They can come and looked around every booth installed in the venue and participate in the promotional events, through which they can receive free cosmetics gifts as well."

People wait in line at the 2022 Olive Young Awards & Festa at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Dec. 14. Courtesy of CJ Olive Young

The event brings a total of 97 cosmetics companies to the venue to meet customers and promote their products. About 50 percent of them are relatively new brands that have entered Olive Young stores within less than three years.

They are also the winners of the Olive Young Awards in 31 categories and 82 percent of them are small and medium-sized domestic brands. CJ Olive Young picks the most popular brands and the best-selling items based on 110 million consumer-purchase data collected each year.

"I know most of the participating brands here but some are new. I am glad that I came here and learned about new domestic brands and get free cosmetics samples," 21-year-old college student Ko Seung-mi said.

An overview of 2022 Olive Young Awards & Festa at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Dec. 14. Courtesy of CJ Olive Young

A 26-year-old surnamed Cho, who works at a cosmetics firm, was happy to receive free gifts, which she said she can test at home.

"I would not have come to this event if I had to buy each products with my own money. I am very satisfied how CJ Olive Young brought relatively unknown local brands for local cosmetic fans to experience," Cho said.

Under its corporate value that "the growth of business partners is the growth of Olive Young," CJ is supporting small and medium-sized companies in all processes, from product planning to marketing, promotion and sales. This is to help its business partners by creating an environment where they can focus on product development and grow stably.

The product group with the largest growth this year was color cosmetics. "Rom&nd," which ranked first in the lip makeup category at the Olive Young Awards, is a fast-growing brand with its sales rising 108 percent, year-on-year, as of November.