Missha

Missha
Headquarters Seoul, South Korea
Area served
 Worldwide
Products Skincare
Parent Able C&C Co., Ltd.
Website http://www.missha.net/
A street in Myeong-dong, Missha store on the right.

Missha (Korean: 미샤) is a South Korea-based skincare and cosmetics manufacturer, retailer and a franchise business. It is part of Able C&C Co., Ltd.

Company

In August 2009, the luxury Missha Homme Urban Soul line was launched with higher quality and are more expensive than the existing two men's cosmetic lines.[1]

In August 2012, as part of Lotte Department Store's expansion programme into China, a replica of Seoul’s main shopping district Myeong-dong was featured in its new store in Tianjin, with outlets of Missha, The Face Shop and Skin Food.[2]

Missha products range from makeup, skin care, to body and hair products; such as All-Around Safe Block Soft Finish Sun Milk SPF 50, Cool Fitting Body Gel and Hot Burning Body Gel.[3]

Missha is also known for making high quality, lower cost duplications of more expensive brands. For example,the Missha Time Revolution First Treatment Essence is a popular duplication of luxury brand essence SK-II,[4] and the Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Science Activator Ampoule is a popular duplicate of the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair.[5]

History

2000-2003
  • Established company Able C&C Co., Ltd.
  • Officially launched MISSHA online brand
  • Began its portal Beauty Net[6]
  • 2001: Began selling Beautynet products.
  • 2002: Officially opened MISSHA's first franchise.[7]
  • 2003: Online Beautynet surpassed 10 million of its own users.
2004-2007
  • Surpassed 200 Missha franchises.
  • Established ABLE C&C USA Corp.[8]
  • 2005: Opened its franchise on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
  • 2006: First franchise opened in China and Europe[9]
  • 2007: Donation event
2008
  • Opened its store in Don Quijote shopping mall in Japan.
  • Opened its store in Lotte mall in China.
  • Opened its store in Dubai mall.[10]
2009
  • Opened its first franchise in Romania and Saudi Arabia.
  • Opened its franchise in airport Japan.
  • Achieve its total sales of ₩181 billion
2010
  • 10th Anniversary
  • Surpassed 5 million members.
  • Opened its first franchise in Venezuela and New Zealand.
  • More than 360 franchise opened in China[11]
2011
  • Contracted with UNICEF.
  • Opened its store in Asiana Airlines.
  • Opened its franchise in Russia and Mexico.

Spokesmodels

On August 1, 2011 it was announced that South Korean boyband duo TVXQ signed on as advertisement models for Missha in Korea and started their official promotions that month. On choosing TVXQ, Able-CNC Marketing said "TVXQ’s powerful and luxurious image coupled with their passion for bringing new ideas to the stage perfectly fits the brand image of ‘Missha’ to a T. With TVXQ, Missha aims to become a global cosmetic brands in conjunction with the Hallyu wave, and thus become leaders of the international market".[12]

On 14 August 2012, Missha launched a new limited-edition TVXQ perfume set and had a special fan signing event at the Missha store in Myeong-dong.[13] On September 10, 2012, Missha announced that the duo had again signed an exclusive contract with them to represent the brand worldwide and that their advertisements would soon be featured in some 1,000 stores across Asia.[14]

Controversy

Original logo

On August 22, 2007, a court ruled Missha was guilty of trademark infringement against Mary Quant Cosmetics. Missha's original flower logo was determined to be too similar to the Mary Quant Daisy logo. Missha was fined ₩3 million and the ruling stated that "Although Missha’s trademark combines a diagram and letters and has different colors compared to the trademark of the Mary Quant Cosmetics, there are reasonable concerns that the identical shapes of the diagrams could hurt the brand recognition of the plaintiff and may confuse customers".[17] The company was required to change its logo, because under Korean copyright law, companies cannot use symbols that are similar in shape to a previously-registered trademark but only differ in color.[18]

Closure

On January 2, 2015, all 20 Missha stores in Hong Kong and Macau were closed and all staff left the stores the same day. Various notices were posted at the stores, stating that "Missha is no longer available to serve you. We apologize for any inconvenience caused" and "under construction".

According to a local newspaper, Apple Daily, an employee received a WhatsApp message from a head-office colleague at about noon, saying that "The boss is gone. Everyone can leave." As reported, Missha is owes the former staff over HK$1 million for salary and severance payments.[19][20][21]

References

  1. ↑ Song, Ji-hye (17 August 2009). "Luxury cosmetics, with a male bent". Joongang Daily. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Kim, Jung-yoon (31 August 2012). "New dawn rising for Lotte in China". Joongang Daily. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Garcia, Cathy Rose A. (6 June 2010). "Natural, slender, no-tan looks are hot for this summer". Korea Times. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "Skincare Smackdown: SK-II Facial Treatment Essence vs. Missha First Treatment Essence". Retrieved 2015-08-22.
  5. ↑ "Skincare Smackdown: Missha Time Revolution Science Activator Ampoule vs. Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum". Retrieved 2015-08-22.
  6. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4
  7. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4-1
  8. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4-2
  9. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4-3
  10. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4-4
  11. ↑ http://shop.beautynet.co.kr/missha_story/brand_story2.php?page=4-5
  12. ↑ http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=106&oid=023&aid=0002293208[]
  13. ↑ Sunwoo, Carla (16 August 2012). "TVXQ's new scent brings out fans in droves". Joongang Daily. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  14. ↑ Sunwoo, Carla (11 September 2012). "TVXQ to represent Missha worldwide". Joongang Daily. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  15. ↑ Ho, Stewart (6 November 2012). "BoA Becomes New Face of Cosmetics Brand, Missha". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  16. ↑ sung, chorong (2013-09-02). "Missha, new brand model is Inseong Jo". Financial News.
  17. ↑ "Missha, a Domestic Cosmetic Brand, Fined for Infringement". Lee International IP & Law Group. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  18. ↑ Seo, Ji-eun (6 September 2006). "Cosmetics company guilty of copying a rival's logo". Jongang Daily. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
  19. ↑ http://nextplus.nextmedia.com/news/spot/20150102/132220
  20. ↑ http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1673101/korean-cosmetics-firm-missha-suddenly-closes-hong-kong-outlets
  21. ↑ https://hk.news.yahoo.com/missha%E6%B8%AF%E6%BE%B3%E5%BA%97%E5%85%A8%E7%B7%9A%E7%AA%81%E5%81%9C%E6%A5%AD-222018288.html
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