This month marked a major milestone for K-Beauty company Glow Recipe. The firm, which launched in 2014 as a destination for curated Korean skin care brands, officially closed its e-commerce platform and rolled out a renewed website with a new look, navigation and content, solely focused on its in-house brand, Glow Recipe Skincare. Before shuttering, the brand held a sale slashing prices on all SKUs before the shop closed. Co-founders Sarah Lee and Christine Chang said customers have evolved with the brand and are excited for this new chapter.

“After the announcement of our new strategy we received incredibly supportive comments, Instagram DM’s and emails congratulating us on our new chapter, but also sharing the mutual excitement,” said Sarah. “We have a very connected community that has been part of the journey since the inception of our business. Many of our customers have witnessed our growth and evolution and have not been shy about sharing their thoughts throughout the process. We’ve organically reached this decision and stage of our business because of the continued engagement from our community.”

Brands have also been supportive, the duo said. “Many of our brand partners have celebrated our new chapter with us, as well,” said Sarah. “We have started the process of connecting our curated K-beauty brands to other retailers we considered to be the right fit for their next steps. We are excited to see them continue to grow and flourish in the U.S., and for our customers to continue to have access to them.”

Sarah and Christine launched their namesake brand Glow Recipe Skincare in 2017, creating significant buzz among consumers with innovate products such as Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask. The brand has sold out over seven times across glowrecipe.com and Sephora.com, as well as in stores around the nation. Within this past year, Glow Recipe expanded its business internationally, and can now be found in all 400 Douglas doors in Germany. In July, it will be launching in 100 Mecca doors across Australia and New Zealand.

“Although our e-commerce business was still strong, our in-house brand, the Glow Recipe Skincare business, was hitting a momentum where we knew we had to make a decision: continue with both business verticals or invest the entire company’s energy and resources into Glow Recipe Skincare. After much thoughtful deliberation, we decided to go all in with Glow Recipe Skincare and continue to innovate with products that we know our customers love and have been asking for,” said Christine.

When consumers visit Glow Recipe’s new website they can expect to see a more comprehensive hub of educational content, tutorials and information about the brand and products. Additionally, the website’s blog has received a full makeover and is now focused on more editorial and lifestyle content. Additionally, the loyalty program, Glow Miles, will be continuing and customers will be able to redeem and accumulate points on all their purchases. Sarah and Christine also plan on continuing with pop-ups as part of the skin care line’s marketing strategy.

“Our goal with our offline experiences is to create and provide an opportunity to build brand and category awareness, create buzz, secure customer loyalty and even test-market products with our target consumers in real life,” said Christine. “This is also our way to tap into multiple markets, with different locations around the nation, utilizing our social media channels to crowd-source a list of locations and maximize engagement.”

As the Glow Recipe Skincare line continues to evolve and grow, the duo hopes to continue to connect with like-minded brands to support and inspire one another.

“Our heritage is Korean beauty, and we are Koreans that learned about beauty from our mothers and grandmothers. We believe in what these K-beauty brands can offer in terms of sophisticated and sensorial textures, new concepts, and fast-paced innovations. Who knows – we can even collaborate with them in a unique way in the near future,” said Sarah.