₩2,000-3,500/kg
Wholesale price of high-purity glycerin, a common base moisturizing ingredient (as of an April 2026 report)
₩1-10/g
Typical bulk price for common cosmetic base ingredients (glycerin, hyaluronic acid) at bulk order volumes
10-15%
Combined ingredient + packaging COGS as a share of retail price for a high-end cosmetic, industry-wide
FACTHigh-purity glycerin — a common base ingredient in moisturizers and serums across the entire industry, not specific to any one brand — traded wholesale at roughly ₩2,000-3,500+ per kilogram as of an April 2026 industry report, rising due to input-cost inflation. Common bulk cosmetic base ingredients generally run ₩1-10 per gram at bulk order volumes.
FACTIndustry-wide, the combined ingredient and packaging cost of goods sold (COGS) for a high-end cosmetic product is typically only 10-15% of its retail price. A representative published breakdown for a $46 retail product: roughly 50% goes to wholesale/retailer margin, 5-30% to sales reps or distributors, leaving the brand with roughly $16 net per unit after COGS of around $5.34.
INFERENCEBecause base moisturizing ingredients are genuinely inexpensive commodities traded on open markets, the retail price gap between a basic cream and a premium one is, for the base formula alone, unlikely to be explained by raw ingredient cost — the gap has to be explained somewhere else in the chain, which the following tabs break down.