The economic downturn has dealt a blow to overall department store revenue in recent years, but sales of premium cosmetics have remained intact.

The proliferation of “brand shops” of low-priced beauty products didn’t have an impact either, according to Allen Kim, chief of La Prairie Korea.

“A high-end French restaurant won’t be afflicted just because a lot of McDonald’s spring up,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“It’s good that those low-priced brands help expand the entire cosmetics market, but they belong to a different segment from the beginning. They are like self-service gas stations or restaurants that use good, harmless ingredients, but they don’t offer any service.”

Even when most of the imported beauty brands sold in department stores are seeing declining sales, the Swiss label continues to grow.

While the overall cosmetics sales at department stores in January dropped 12.1 percent from a year ago, La Prairie’s sales inched up 4.2 percent.

“It’s like food. People who are used to eating good food don’t shift to cheaper food because the economy is bad,” Kim said.

“We have about 2,000 VIPs in Korea, and our top customer alone bought 60 million won worth of our products last year.”

Another VIP client bought a bottle of La Prairie’s most expensive, 1.5 million won Cellular Cream Platinum Rare every month to apply not just on her face but on her body as well, according to Kim.

Having entered Korea in 1986, La Prairie was sold through a local distributor until 2008 when the Swiss company launched its own Korean arm, with Kim taking the helm.

“Our sales have doubled since 2007 to over 50 billion won last year,” said the former accountant who had worked as the chief financial officer of Burberry Korea for six years before joining La Prairie.

Kim attributed the growth to intensified training and customized service through professional consultation.

“Despite having superb products, La Prairie fell short of offering customized service prior to 2008. Now, our consultants in navy jackets, who have completed a rigorous training program, guide customers through which products work best for their skin types and problems and how to use them,” he said.

“La Prairie invests most of our resources in product development and then in people.”

La Prairie spends little on advertising ― just to the extent that keeps it from being forgotten.

Instead, the 31-year-old premium brand runs a VIP lounge in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, to offer customers a chance to experience its products.

La Prairie runs its own spa facilities named “Art of Beauty” in five-star hotels worldwide.

It has fewer stores in Korea compared to rival brands in the similar price range such as La Mer and Sisley, but doesn’t consider Swiss Perfection, which is sold in only two department stores, a competitor.

“Our task from now on is to attract younger customers by changing their perception and psychology about our brand. Many people think we only sell expensive products, but we do have products under 200,000 won, like our anti-aging and advanced marine biology collections,” Kim said.

“We are also an eye expert with 12 different eye products for seven eye problems, when other brands have only two or three eye products.”

Famous for using valuable ingredients such as platinum, caviar and gold in its products, La Prairie maintains a two-digit operating profit-to-sales ratio.

Worldwide, the U.S. is La Prairie’s biggest market accounting for about 30 percent of its sales, followed by Europe, but demand in Asia, especially in China, is growing fast.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)