(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of South Korean fashion companies are producing online-only products and shutting down offline outlets amid ever rising sales of fashion items among the younger generation, industry sources said Tuesday.
Avista Corp. said it will soon close its offline stores for Kai-aakmann brand products so they could be sold exclusively through the Internet.
Online clothing sales have posted two-digit growth, while offline sales have steadily backtracked in recent years, the sources said.
LF said it established JILL BY JILLSTUART and Il Corso as online-only brands in 2016, noting the transition to the online-only brands helped the company improve profitability by reducing costs involved in the operation of offline outlets.
“The main consumer groups have changed with the advent of the new distribution structure,” an LF official said. “We’ve changed some brands to online-only ones to catch up with the changing distribution channels and concepts.”
Kolon Industries FnC said it has been marketing Regna X products only on the U.S.-based Amazon.com’s platform.
Samsung C&T Corp. said it switched BEANPOLE KIDS to an online-only brand in September last year, adding about 20 percent of its products are being sold at online malls alone.
“Online-only products have received positive response from consumers as they can meet the rapidly changing consumer trends and are price competitive,” a Samsung C&T Corp. official said.
(Yonhap)
