K-beauty, food, and fashion SMEs to meet 200 European buyers
KOTRA frames Europe as a key alternative market amid Middle East risks
Lotte will host the “2026 Lotte–Korea Brand Expo” in Madrid from May 27 to 29, positioning the event as a platform for Korean consumer brands to expand into Europe. The expo is jointly organized with the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership and KOTRA, under the auspices of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
Around 50 Korean small- and medium-sized companies from beauty, food, fashion, and lifestyle sectors will take part. They will hold one-on-one export consultations and product showcases with over 200 buyers from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European markets. The meetings will focus on distribution entry, pricing, and localization strategies rather than simple sampling or promotion.
The venue will be designed as a “Seoul Salon,” turning the Madrid space into a K-beauty themed pop-up. Visitors move through a welcome lounge, a salon area, a consulting lounge, and a culture lounge in sequence. Inside the salon, dedicated zones for aesthetics, styling, and therapy will let buyers and local consumers test skincare, haircare, and bodycare products in a setting that mirrors a real Korean beauty salon.
Cultural programs will run alongside the business section. The expo will feature fan events with Korean artists and K-pop cover dance performances to attract local MZ consumers and connect their interest in K-pop with purchases of K-beauty, K-food, and K-fashion. Since its launch in 2016, the Korea Brand Expo series has traveled across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, supporting more than 1,500 Korean SMEs and generating over 10,000 export consultations, with cumulative deal discussions totaling billions of dollars.
KOTRA sees this year’s Madrid event as part of a broader push to build new demand centers for K-consumer goods. The agency has highlighted K-consumer products, alongside supply chain and AI, as one of Korea’s next key pillars of export. It is working more closely with large global retailers to place Korean brands on mainstream shelves. With geopolitical tensions in the Middle East affecting shipments and sentiment, KOTRA has singled out Europe as a priority alternative and diversification market for Korean exporters.
For international buyers, the expo offers a curated entry point into Korea’s consumer ecosystem: they can meet pre-screened brands, test products in a retail-style environment, and receive direct support from Lotte and KOTRA teams on logistics, regulations, and marketing. For Korean SMEs, it is an opportunity to move beyond one-off pop-ups toward longer-term listings in European offline and online channels. Lotte plans to use the Madrid event as a springboard to expand similar K-consumer brand collaborations in other global regions.
By Min Byung-kwun, KDFN
kdf＠kdfnews.com
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