[THE INVESTOR] Korean beauty giant Amorepacific announced that it loosened its policy to restrict the number of products individual customers can buy from June 18.

“We now restrict based on type of products and not brands, which makes it possible for customers to buy more than five products under the same brand,” an Amorepacific spokesperson told The Investor.

Before loosening the policy, customers were allowed to buy up to five items from each brand -- such as Sulhwasoo, Laneige and Hera -- at both online and offline duty-free stores. Moreover, the purchasing price limit per person, which exists for some premium brand like Sulhwasoo, also was loosened from US$1,000 to US$2,000.

The company added that the new policy is being applied as a summer season event, but declined to state the exact term of the change.

In September 2017, Amorepacific tightened its policy to restrict the number of products individual customers could buy in order to protect its brand from Chinese informal cross-border traders -- called “daigong” -- who purchase Korean products in large quantities and sell them at much cheaper prices in China.

Some industry sources say the recent change, which occurred only nine months after the change last year, aims to boost its sales, which were topped by crosstown rival LG Household & Health Care. According to sources, sales of LG Household & Health Care’s premium brand Whoo at duty-free outlets posted 608.6 billion won (US$544.85 million) last year, outpacing sales of Amorepacific’s Sulhwasoo, which marked 425.2 billion won.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)