The sun stick costs less — and 3.5x more per gram
Sun sticks look like the budget end of a sun line, because buyers read the sticker price first. On the Olive Young shelf the median sun stick is ₩2,700 cheaper than the median sunscreen, yet it costs ₩1,321 per gram against ₩379. Add the application amount the SPF on the label assumes and the gap widens again.
A Korean sun stick carries a lower sticker price than a sunscreen and a 3.5x higher unit price. In our daily Olive Young category TOP 30 data (27 October 2026), single-unit sun sticks sit at a median ₩18,500 for 15g, or ₩1,321 per gram, against ₩21,200 for 50ml, or ₩379 per ml, for sunscreen. Sun cushions run higher still at ₩1,713.
The sticker price says cheaper, the gram says 3.5x
If a sun stick sits in your plan as the entry-price item, the arithmetic is worth redoing. In our daily Olive Young category TOP 30 data (27 October 2026), stripped of bundle and gift-with-purchase listings, the median sun stick lists at ₩18,500 and the median sunscreen at ₩21,200. On sticker price alone the stick reads as the ₩2,700 discount.
Divide by what is in the package and the order flips. The same count puts median stick volume at 15g against 50ml for sunscreen, which works out to ₩1,321 per gram against ₩379 per ml — a 3.5x gap.
View as table
| Sun cushion | 1,713KRW |
|---|---|
| Sun stick | 1,321KRW |
| Sunscreen | 379KRW |
| Sun spray / patch | 240KRW |
Price is pinned near ₩20,000, so volume moves instead
Sun products on this shelf cluster around ₩20,000. That is the price shoppers reach for, so when the format changes it is the fill that gives way rather than the ticket. Every single-unit stick in the count falls between 14g and 20g, while sunscreens spread from 30ml to 120ml.
| Format | Median price | Median volume | Median unit price | Unit price range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun cushion | ₩25,200 | 15g | ₩1,713/g | ₩845–2,520 |
| Sun stick | ₩18,500 | 15g | ₩1,321/g | ₩495–2,357 |
| Sunscreen | ₩21,200 | 50ml | ₩379/ml | ₩227–830 |
| Sun spray / patch | ₩15,465 | 70ml | ₩240/ml | — |
The column that matters is the range. Sun sticks run from ₩495 to ₩2,357 per gram, nearly fivefold, so two ₩18,000 sticks on the same shelf can be very different products once you look past the ticket. Sunscreen does not spread fourfold.
There is also little room left to shrink. Below 14g a stick reads as a travel size, and past 20g the barrel diameter and the fill both move with it. Today's category figures are in today's ingredient signal.
The SPF on the label came from 2.0mg/cm²
Unit price starts to bite once you look at how much has to go on the skin. Korea's UV protection measurement standard fixes the application amount at 2.0mg/cm² and runs the test on at least 10 subjects across at least 24cm². Stick or lotion, the number on the label came from that one condition.
Getting that amount off a stick is the hard part. In one published measurement a full-face single layer left 0.29g on the skin and three layers left 0.64g — roughly nine passes and thirty-four passes of the barrel.
Put those figures against a 15g stick and you get 23 to 51 applications. At ₩1,321 per gram, each one costs ₩383 to ₩845. Convert sunscreen to the same application amount (assuming a density of 1) and it comes to ₩243, so on a per-use basis the gap tracks unit price rather than the ticket.
One more format means one more test
The cost of adding a stick does not stop at tooling and filling. On 19 August 2026 the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety opened consultation on amendments to the functional cosmetics review rules and the claim substantiation rules, with comments closing on 18 September. One line in them allows an SPF or PA figure in labeling and advertising only where a human or in-vitro test supports it.
| Test | Duration | Cost per test |
|---|---|---|
| Human application (ISO 24444 · 24442) | about 1 month | about ₩6m |
| In-vitro, PMMA plate (ISO 23675 · 24443) | about 2 days | about ₩3.5m |
The in-vitro route takes roughly ₩2.5m off a single test. It arrives as an added option rather than a replacement for human testing, and the amendments are still at consultation stage, so the commencement date is the thing to watch.
Waivers are narrower than most planners assume. The draft allows a partial waiver where the active and every excipient match, while excluding fragrance, preservative and colourant below 1% from that comparison. A stick is built almost without water, on waxes and esters, so even with identical UV filters the formula departs from the lotion. That is why a lotion's report rarely travels to the stick.
Three sun formats therefore mean three tests. To line up formats, test counts and unit prices on one page, the product planner does the arithmetic.
In short
- Median single-unit sun stick: ₩18,500 against ₩21,200 for sunscreen, but ₩1,321 per gram against ₩379.
- Sun prices cluster near ₩20,000, so format changes show up in fill — sticks 14–20g, sunscreens 30–120ml.
- The label's SPF assumes 2.0mg/cm² whatever the format; one measurement put a face layer at 0.29g and three layers at 0.64g.
- A 15g stick gives 23 to 51 applications on those figures, at ₩383 to ₩845 each.
- An SPF claim needs a human or in-vitro test report, and the in-vitro route would cut a test from about ₩6m to about ₩3.5m.
*Sources: prices and volumes from our daily Olive Young category TOP 30 listing prices (27 October 2026; collection window 16 July to 27 October 2026). Volumes were read from product names, and bundle, gift and double-pack listings were excluded. The application amount is from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety standard on measuring UV protection (Annex 3 of the functional cosmetics standards and test methods). Stick application measurements from Lab Muffin Beauty Science, "How Much of a Sunscreen Stick Should You Apply?". Test duration, cost and the draft amendments as reported by K-Health and CNC News on the MFDS consultation of 19 August 2026.*
Making this format as a Korean private label product
Formats like sun stick decide packaging, filling line and unit cost long before the formula does. As a Korean private label manufacturer we quote the container, the fill and the MOQ together, so you see the real price per piece on day one.
Korean cosmetics private label — cost, MOQ and timeline →
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Questions people ask
Cheaper to buy, dearer per gram. The same count puts single-unit sun sticks at a median ₩18,500, some ₩2,700 below sunscreen, while the per-unit figures are ₩1,321 against ₩379.
2.0mg/cm². Korea's UV protection measurement standard runs the test on at least 10 subjects over at least 24cm² at that application amount. The figure does not change with the format.
One published measurement put a full-face layer at 0.29g and three layers at 0.64g. On those figures a 15g stick yields 23 to 51 applications, at ₩383 to ₩845 each.
Korea's draft rule on substantiating claims allows an SPF figure only where a human or in-vitro test supports it. Data waivers apply only where the active and every excipient match, so a wax-based stick cannot simply inherit a lotion's report.
Sprays and patches. On the same date the median is 70ml at ₩240 per ml, about a seventh of the sun cushion figure.