Case Studies

Olive Young

Unlocking K-Beauty dominance in APAC through strategic affiliate growth

The Results

In partnership with Rakuten Advertising, Olive Young, South Korea’s leading health and beauty retailer, launched a strategic affiliate program to expand its global K-beauty presence in the dynamic APAC market. Leveraging Rakuten Advertising’s in-region expertise, AI-powered tools, and in-depth consumer insights, Olive Young achieved explosive growth, significantly exceeding its initial objectives.

+120%

increase in APAC revenue YoY

+340%

increase in new customer growth YoY

About the Brand

Olive Young is South Korea’s leading health and beauty retailer, at the forefront of the K-beauty revolution. The brand is committed to setting trends, introducing innovative products, and expanding its online business globally, aiming to solidify its position as a global K-beauty powerhouse.

The Story

Olive Young sought to expand its online business beyond domestic borders, targeting the dynamic APAC region to drive brand exposure, capture new market share, and solidify its position as a global K-beauty powerhouse. The brand faced challenges including limited regional expertise and a relatively new affiliate program. Their ambitious goals included growing APAC revenue by 25% YoY, increasing new customer growth by 10% YoY, and expanding their programme beyond Korea.

To overcome these challenges and achieve their objectives, Olive Young partnered with Rakuten Advertising. Rakuten Advertising provided a comprehensive solution, offering in-region experts with invaluable local insights, fostering key publisher relationships, and providing access to Rakuten Insight for in-depth APAC consumer trends. They also deployed AI-powered tools to optimise targeting and enhance performance. The strategy centred around a full-funnel approach, balancing upper-funnel brand awareness initiatives with conversion-driving tactics.

The Rakuten Advertising Solution

Rakuten Advertising and Olive Young deployed a multi-faceted approach, leveraging Rakuten’s industry-first technology, local expertise, and in-depth consumer analysis. The strategic planning involved a collaborative effort, beginning with a comprehensive gap analysis to pinpoint opportunities and challenges within the diverse APAC market. This led to a carefully curated full-funnel strategy balancing brand awareness with conversion-oriented tactics.

Dedicated In-Region Experts

Rakuten Advertising assembled a dedicated team of in-region specialists who, drawing upon established publisher relationships throughout APAC, collaborated closely with Olive Young to tailor the program to the unique dynamics of each individual market.

Rakuten Insight

Leveraging Rakuten Insight, a consumer market research expert, provided deep understanding of consumer shopping habits for beauty across various Asian markets, guiding the overall strategy.

AI-Powered Tools and Insights & Analytics Portal

Rakuten Advertising provided sophisticated technology solutions, including a suite of AI-powered tools and the Insights and Analytics portal. This equipped Olive Young with real-time reporting and actionable insights for continuous optimisation.

Audience Engine

Olive Young leveraged Audience Engine to deliver hyper-personalised offers to carefully targeted segments, ensuring relevance and fostering meaningful engagement along the customer journey.

Dynamic Commissioning

To supercharge the performance of strategically selected quarterly hero products, the team implemented dynamic commissioning, ensuring critical product launches received maximum support and visibility across the affiliate network.

Partnership Expansion and Influencer Marketing

Leveraging Rakuten Advertising’s Partnership Discovery tool, Olive Young discovered niche partners throughout APAC, including Shopback, Line Shopping, Cashrewards, LTK, and more. This included onboarding various influencer subnetworks and content publishers, such as LTK and Skimlinks, to run CPA-based campaigns and capture shoppers throughout APAC.

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