Rapport de stage esthétique en Corée du Sud (anglais)

SUMMARY OF INTERNSHIP REPORT

PARK SU JEONG CHEONGDAM BEAUTY CENTER INSTITUTE

Period : 12/04/2017 to 18/05/2017

ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP

As Korea is one of the world's most fastest-changing beauty market, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to work for a South Korean beauty institute located in one the most famous disctrict of Seoul. After sending many applications through internet and after contacting various companies, I finaly got a positive reply from Park Su Jeong Cheongdam Beauty Center Institute. The President of the company spent many years studying in France and majored in Cosmetics, thanks to her experience she brought to her institute the Frenchtouch that korean people are so fond of.

The habits in term of skin care in South Korea are very different from our habits in France, in fact the South Koreans practice what they call the "double skin cleansing" and korean girls can use up to ten different skin product per day as their routine. Because of this obsession for a perfect skin, beauty salons and dermatological institutes have flourished throughout South Korea and attract more and more customers willing to get a flawless beautiful white skin. Therefore it is important for institutes to distinguish themselves from one another and to renew their catalog of products often because the changes in beauty trends are rapid and incessant.

Thanks to this internship, I discovered the South Korean habits and customs in term of cosmetics, as well as the working life in a company which taught me a lot about the South Korean beauty market.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Park Su Jeong Cheongdam Beauty Center has been providing facial and body care in the Cheongdam district of Seoul for almost 10 years now.

In 2008, the Institute was named High Spa, and since then it has joined Stylish Spa Group, which operates 4 other beauty institutes in Seoul, Jinju and Daejon.

The Institute offers a variety of facial and body treatments with emphasis on the use of aromatic oils with price rates ranging from 60,000won (47euro) to 250,000won (200euro) per session depending on the type of skin care.

Most of the clients are middle-aged women who regularly come to the Institute and know the Director well, and who sometimes bring family members to receive “couple skin care”. To my astonishment a large number of male customers also come to take care of their skin, this percentage is much higher than in France where facial and body care and are still largely reserved for the female customers, although this stereotype has evolved over the last few years.

When I arrived at the company, the team consisted of 3 employees; Yang Yujin the team leader who worked at the institute for 1 and a half years and Lim Jihye and Kim Jihyo the two new employees who started working just a few weeks before me.

MISSION STATEMENT

 Maintenance of the Institute

As in all the beauty institutes it is important to preserve the cleanliness of the place as it is a part of the image of the brand. Although this type of work is neither rewarding nor particularly interesting, it is essential for the proper functioning of the workplace and for the compliance with hygiene rules.

So every day I had to do the laundry of the many towels and clean the utensils and appliances used during skincares, I also cleaned the dishes used by customers such as tea cups or spoons.

All day long I worked at the reception desk to receive calls for appointments and greet clients arriving at the Institute. The only drawback for me was that the manager did not allow me to welcome and talk in Korean with the guests.

One of the main challenges for the Institute was to develop foreign customers. To participate in this development I contacted the SIWA organization which offers weekly meetings between foreign and Korean women living in Seoul. I was able to take advantage of this pleasant meeting to promote the Institute and distribute coupons for a facial skin care. Thanks to this association I was able to participate in a company market meeting with the members of the association. We therefore rented a table where we were able to offer for sale cosmetic products and oils used during skincare at the Institute.

Website and blog development

During my internship I was able to familiarize myself with the South Korean search engine Naver, which also offers a very dynamic Blog part that allows to easily post photos, comments and thus promote businesses. At the beginning I was in charge of translating past articles and the Institute's care program into French. Little by little I was able to create my own posts in Korean and French on the official blog of the Institute. I was also able to pratice the video editing skills I acquired during group projects at the University in order to produce short videos presenting the different techniques of skincare used at the Institute and to share them on social networks

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