Why Olive Young Global

As I covered at my previous post TOP 5 BEAUTY SHOPPING CHANNELS IN KOREA, Olive Young is the number one beauty shopping channel in Korea. When I heard about its global site launch last Summer, I was so excited! Because there have been only a handful of sites where I could get the Korean products that I wanted – the ones that my friends in Korea use, or the ones that were actually popular in Korea. At the same time, I had concerns about the shipping and the brand/product assortment. I would like to share how my online shopping experience was back in May, by each step.

Olive Young Global Brands and Products

I am quite impressed with the global site’s brand and product assortments. I could find any major brands that are popular in Korea site. The product assortment differs by brand, but I could easily find the well-known products in the global site. Below are the brands that I personally find interesting but you can find the full brand list here.

• Aestura
• Boh
• Be Plain
• Cellapy
• CNP
• Clio
• Cosrx
• d’Alba
• Dashing Diva
• Dermatory
• Dr.G
• Dr.Jart+
• Espoir
• GIVERNY
• Goodal
• Illiyoon
• Luna
• Makeprem
• Manyo
• Mediheal
• Neogen
• Peripera
• Rom&nd
• Round Lab
• Scinic
• The LAB by blanc doux
• Torriden
• 3CE

Regarding the price difference from the Korean site, I could see the price of global site is slightly higher overall. However, the global site runs various promotions quite frequently, so if you use them right, you won’t be penalized at all – even you might get the benefit. For example, I purchased Clio Kill Cover Founwear Cushion XP at USD24.50 which is slightly lower than the Korean price KRW32,000 using USD/KRW=1,200. The exchange rate, of course fluctuates, but using USD/KRW=1,200 will give you a pretty good ballpark. It was the same for the Mediheal Tea Tree Mask which I bought at $1.1 per sheet while they were at 50% discount promotion.

Olive Young Global Site Experience

Product Details

The depth of information depends on each brand and product. The majority of the Korean brands visualize the product detail pages and make them as image format (meaning you cannot drag or copy the texts) with multiple product images, clinical test results, marketing copy, etc… all blended together. If a brand translated those visualized product detail pages, you can see them on the global site as well – that was the case for Clio Kill Cover Founwear Cushion XP. However, there was not a lot of lucky case like this. For example, Dokdo Toner’s product detail page of the global site lacks details compared to the Korean site. I hope more brands get the bandwidth to translate all their product details in English!

Product Reviews

Since it’s been only a year or so, the Olive Young Global site doesn’t have that many product reviews to refer to. I could barely find a review of the products that I was browsing. I believe it will take some time for the reviews to be accumulated but until then, you might have to look for the reviews from somewhere else.

Site User Experience

I would say the site experience overall is not completely seamless or ideal. I was even a little bit worried when I completed the order since the shipping information that was in the order summary (confirmation) was missing the zip code. However, I received my order without any problem though.

Another example is the disconnect between the mobile and the desktop. The items that I put in cart via the mobile site are not synched with that of the desktop site. This is not a critical issue but might worth being aware of. In short, though there were some clumsy parts, they were not critical enough to bother me.

Olive Young Global Coupon and Promotion

It seems like the site runs various promotions or discounts quite frequently – especially the sheet masks. As I used to do in Korea, I would not buy the sheet masks at the full price since they are always in sales 😛 Olive Young Global also runs the evergreen promotion for the newcomer – 15% off and a free gift over a certain amount of purchase. It seems like the purchase amount threshold keeps change each month. It also provides free international shipping over $60 purchase.

It also has the membership program with three tiers – Welcome, VIP, VVIP. You will automatically become a welcome level when you first join. The threshold is quite high ($200 purchase within 6 months) though to go up to the VIP level.

Olive Young Global Shipping

The shipping was actually very impressive! I got free shipping since my order was above the free shipping threshold ($60). I made an order on May 17th and the order was shipped the next day. And then it arrived on 21st! I live in the Northwest part of the US for your reference. The order came through DHL and I got a text message if I would authorize DHL to deliver without a signature so I did. I had no issue and was just so happy that I could get my order in just 4 days amid COVID19 cross border!

However, it seems to have a stricter standard in product return or exchange. For example, you only have 7 days from the date of receipt to make a return or exchange. You also have to pay for your return shipping fee unless the items you received are damaged or wrong. Please find here to double check the site’s return/exchange policy.  

Olive Young Global Customer Service

I haven’t had a chance to make any interaction with customer service. However, it does have a designated section to make a personal inquiry. They also have the email and number available as below.

• Customer Service Hours: Weekdays 09:00-18:00 (GMT+9)
• E-mail: oycs@oliveyoung.com
• Phone: +1-800-523-6115

I will make an update if I make any interaction anytime soon!

So… Will I Buy Here Again?

My answer is YES! I actually added more items in the shopping cart and am about to make another purchase. I am glad to find the products that I used to stock up back in Korea, and even the hottest ones that are trending in the market. I hope this post was helpful and please share in the comments on your shopping experience at Olive young Global. Or any items that you recommend from the site!

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