44 new entries yesterday, and 23 of 42 categories had none
Growth rate is the wrong first number when you pick a category to enter. Across Olive Young's 42 category rankings yesterday, 44 products were new to the top 30 — but 23 of those categories saw no change at all. Shelf space opens in some categories and never in others.
In our daily Olive Young ranking data as of 12 October 2026, 44 of the 1,239 top-30 slots across 42 categories were held by products that were not there the day before — 3.6%. But 23 categories had zero new entries, so all the turnover sits in 19 categories. The busiest are creams with 8 and shampoo with 6.
44 slots out of 1,239 changed hands
Most entry decisions start with a category growth rate. Growth, though, says nothing about whether there is room on the shelf. We collect Olive Young category rankings every day, and as of 12 October 2026 the 42 category top-30 lists add up to 1,239 slots. Yesterday 44 of them held a product that had not been there the day before.
That works out to 3.6% — about one slot in thirty turning over in a single day. Read on its own, the number makes the shelf sound fluid.
The catch is that those 44 entries are not spread across 42 categories. The 3.6% average describes no actual category.
Only 19 categories had any opening at all
In the same dataset, 19 categories recorded at least one new entry. The other 23 recorded none. More than half of the shelf saw no substitution whatsoever in a day.
What sits on the zero list matters more than the count. Serums and ampoules, toners, lotions, oils and balms, and toner pads were all flat — the five skincare formats that fill the opening pages of most Korean export decks. Sun cushions, nose strips, patches, hand care, foot care and deodorant joined them.
At the other extreme, turnover concentrated in two places. Creams took in 8 new products, 26.7% of that category's top 30, and shampoo took 6, or 20.0%.
View as table
| Cream | 8items |
|---|---|
| Shampoo | 6items |
| Cleansing foam | 3items |
| Lip makeup | 3items |
| Base makeup | 3items |
| Eye makeup | 3items |
| Styling | 3items |
| Category | New entries | Share of its top 30 |
|---|---|---|
| Cream | 8 | 26.7% |
| Shampoo / scaler | 6 | 20.0% |
| Cleansing foam / gel | 3 | 10.0% |
| Lip, base and eye makeup | 3 each | 10.0% each |
| Serum / essence / ampoule | 0 | 0% |
| Toner | 0 | 0% |
| Toner pads | 0 | 0% |
Both halves of that table describe the same 24 hours on the same platform. Eight slots turned over in creams while not one moved in toners.
Hair took 30% of all new entries
Group the categories and the pattern sharpens. Shampoo, treatments, hair essence, styling and scalp essence — five hair categories — together account for 13 new entries. Five of 42 categories captured 30% of the day's turnover.
Eight products reached a category number-one slot as new entries on the same day. Four of those eight were hair products, with body wash adding a fifth. The three makeup categories took in 3 each, filling 9 slots between them.
Skincare sat still while hair and makeup moved. How long that holds changes week to week, so the current reading is quicker to check on today's ingredient signals.
The long-runners sit where nothing opens up
The other end of the distribution tells the complementary story. Across the 79 days we tracked from 16 July to 12 October 2026, ten products stayed inside the top 20 for at least 66 of them, and nine of the ten cleared 75 days.
Those ten span six categories, and five of the six had zero new entries yesterday: toner pads, nose strips, foot care, wipes and after-sun. Long shelf life and zero turnover are not two findings. They show up in the same categories.
Price ran against the usual assumption. The ten long-runners carry a median listed price of 20,600 won; the eight products that entered at category number one yesterday sit at 11,300 won. Eight observations is not a trend, but on this date the new arrivals were the cheaper group, not the premium one.
| Group | Products | Median price | New entries in their categories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 20 on 66+ of 79 days | 10 | ₩20,600 | 5 of 6 categories at zero |
| Entered at category no. 1 yesterday | 8 | ₩11,300 | includes 4 hair categories |
Two numbers to count before you commit
First, count how often your target category admits anyone new. A fast-growing category with no substitution means entering the top 30 by displacing an incumbent. Creams and shampoo, turning over six to eight slots a day, are as easy to fall out of as they are to enter.
Second, ask what keeps a product there once it lands. The items that held the top 20 for most of those 79 days cluster in nose strips, pads and foot care — formats consumed by the sheet or by the millilitre — which points to repurchase cycle, not price, as the thing that holds a slot. To line both numbers up against a category and a price band, work it through in the product planner.
Summary
- 44 of 1,239 top-30 slots across 42 categories were new yesterday, or 3.6%.
- Those 44 came from just 19 categories; 23 categories recorded zero.
- Creams led with 8 new entries (26.7% of the category), shampoo with 6 (20.0%).
- Five hair categories took 13 new entries, about 30% of the total.
- The ten products holding the top 20 for 66+ of 79 days span six categories, five of which had no new entries.
*Source: our own daily collection of Olive Young category rankings. Ranking date 12 October 2026, collected 13 October 2026. 1,239 slots across 42 category top-30 lists; tracking window 16 July to 12 October 2026 (79 days). Prices are medians of Olive Young listed prices for each group.*
Questions people ask
As of 12 October 2026, 44 of 1,239 slots held a new product. That is roughly one slot in thirty changing hands overnight. It is an average, though: by category the count runs from zero to eight.
Creams, with 8 new products, or 26.7% of that category's top 30. Shampoo follows with 6. Group the five hair categories together and they account for 13 of the 44, about 30% of all new entries.
Serums and ampoules, toners, lotions, oils and balms, and toner pads were all at zero. Those are the items Korean brands put on page one of an export deck. Nose strips, patches, hand care, foot care and deodorant sit on the same list.
Easier to enter, and easier to fall out of. The ten products that held a top 20 place for at least 66 of 79 tracked days sit across six categories, and five of those six had zero new entries yesterday.