Pure Seoul: The Korean beauty specialist making a name for itself in the UK

With eight UK stores now trading, Retail Week explores how Pure Seoul has grown from an online store to a retailer aiming to expand beyond the UK.

Renowned for its product innovation, affordability, and effectiveness, the global Korean beauty market is valued at $11.2bn (£8.4bn) globally according to Future Market Insights, and is expected to grow to $20.4bn (£15.4bn) by 2035.

Emerging as a dominant player in this field is Pure Seoul, a UK-based retailer specialising in K-beauty.

In 2007, founders Leslie Tang, Gracie Tullio, and Wing-Sze Tang first came up with the idea for Pure Seoul, but it wasn’t established until 2019 when it launched as an online store with just five brands.

It opened its first bricks-and-mortar store on London’s Charing Cross Road in 2022.

It’s expanded nicely since then, opening in Westfield London, Birmingham Bullring, Manchester Arndale, Westgate Centre Oxford, North Road in Brighton, Lion Yard in Cambridge, and most recently—Westfield Stratford.

On its website, it claims to be the top rated Korean beauty store in the UK and works directly with brands to “test, sample, and hand-select only the best products”.

Pure Seoul co-founder and creative director Gracie Tullio tells Retail Week that it is “not here to compete with the mainstream” and is focused on “shaping the K-beauty narrative”.

“As a specialist retailer, our strength lies in knowing our product and our customers inside out,” she says.

“Influenced by our shopping experiences in Korea, we’ve crafted a space for beauty exploration, complete with testers, genuine advice, and a relaxed, no-pressure approach to shopping. 

“We’re proud to champion the category and pride ourselves on offering customers a slice of beauty they can’t find anywhere else.”

Social media has played a huge part in generating engagement and customers, as Tullio explains that its own videos “consistently garner” around 500,000 views, and that over 200 customer videos have been created showcasing the products and offering.

Pure Seoul taps into the viral trend of Korean beauty, with the hashtags “kbeauty”, and “Koreanskincare”, amassing 1.6 million posts and 1.4 million posts on TikTok respectively.

The retailer even has in-store displays signed “As Seen on TikTok” with viral products on show from brands like Torriden, Ilso, Glow, and Needly.

Queues often spiral around its stores whenever a new opening is announced, with its most recent store in Westfield Stratford seeing hundreds of customers camping out overnight.

The first 200 customers to spend over £30 received a goodie bag worth £300, and according to one TikTok video, the first 200 customers arrived before 2:30am.

While the store openings are rapidly gaining attention, its roots started in ecommerce. Similarweb data shows that PureSeoul’s website received an average of 365,200 visits between December 2024 and February 2025.

As a comparison, K-beauty competitors SkinCupid, Skinsider, and Korean Skincare saw 310,800, 176,000 and 134,200 visits over the same period.

While it is a relatively young name, Chris Camacho, chief executive of digital marketing and advertising agency Cheil UK, believes Pure Seoul is a front-runner in UK’s K-beauty, but it needs to be wary of international players.

“It enters a market already shaped by established players like Holika Holika, Tony Moly and Innisfree—brands with strong international reputations, deep product portfolios, and loyal UK followings built through online platforms and high street presence,” he says.

“Pure Seoul’s growth builds on that momentum, introducing new brands and deeper education to an audience that’s becoming increasingly skincare-savvy.”

Ambitious plans

To keep up with the changing pace of the Korean beauty market, Tullio says the retailer has “ambitious plans” to expand its product catalogue this year—with 10 brands and 100 new products in the pipeline.

Speaking to property consultants GCW recently, Pure Seoul also revealed that international sites will eventually be on the cards—with Italy being a top target.

Tullio said K-beauty isn’t as readily available in Europe, so that would be a “natural step”.

Back on home turf, a ninth store on London’s Carnaby Street is the next thing on the cards as it continues its nationwide rollout.

The combination of a strong digital presence, social media strategy, and store expansion makes Pure Seoul attractive to customers, according to Camacho.

“This content-rich, experience-led approach is helping it build loyalty and credibility with a UK audience that craves both authenticity and results,” he explains.

“It’s also benefiting from broader shifts in the UK skincare market, with younger consumers favouring gentle, science-backed formulations, and showing growing interest in Korean beauty rituals. 

“With high street footfall rebounding and beauty retail booming post-pandemic, Pure Seoul’s store expansion feels like smart, well-timed brand building, not just distribution growth.”

He concludes: “As British consumers become more skincare-savvy and ingredient-aware, the appetite for Korean beauty is only set to grow, and Pure Seoul is riding that wave with clarity and intent.”