MISSHA says U.S. TikTok Shop sales rose 3,199% in first quarter, but no independent confirmation is available

Able C&C, the operator of MISSHA, said its sales on TikTok Shop in the United States surged. According to Maeil Business Newspaper, Able C&C announced that MISSHA’s first-quarter sales on TikTok Shop in the U.S. this year rose 3,199% from the same period a year earlier.

For now, however, the publicly verifiable information is limited to the company’s announcement and reports citing it. The article did not provide the absolute size of sales in the year-earlier period used as the comparison base, whether the figure was measured in won or dollars, whether refunds and cancellations were reflected, or whether it referred only to MISSHA’s direct sales rather than total transaction volume on TikTok Shop. For that reason, the growth rate alone does not make it possible to draw firm conclusions about the scale or sustainability of the business.

Background cited by the company

Maeil Business Newspaper reported that Able C&C attributed the result to data-driven marketing and a creator-centered content commerce strategy. By the company’s account, that meant using short-form videos and creator partnerships to pursue both product exposure and purchase conversion within the platform.

That, too, is the company’s explanation. The publicly available materials do not show which products drove the sales increase, whether the effect of any particular campaign was temporary, or whether there was an expansion in advertising spending.

Separate from export statistics

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Korean cosmetics exports reached a record $7 billion in the first half of 2026. Official statistics do confirm that overseas sales of Korean cosmetics overall are increasing.

But those export figures do not in themselves prove MISSHA’s sales growth on TikTok Shop in the U.S. National export performance and the results of a specific brand on a specific platform differ in scope and in counting methods. Based on the materials now public, it is difficult to judge how closely MISSHA’s TikTok Shop sales increase is tied to the broader strength in K-beauty exports.

What remains unverified

No independently cross-checked data supporting this figure has yet been presented. Ministry data and customs statistics typically show exports at the national level, but they do not directly verify platform-by-platform sales in the United States for an individual brand. Separate disclosure from TikTok or comparative data involving other K-beauty brands was also not included in the materials released this time.

At this point, the verifiable facts are that Able C&C has presented 3,199% as MISSHA’s first-quarter sales growth rate on TikTok Shop in the United States, and that Korean cosmetics exports set a first-half record. The causal relationship between those two points, and the practical meaning of the growth rate itself, will likely become clearer only if additional information on the base sales figure and the counting method is disclosed.