Visitors look at clothes at Musinsa Standard, the first offline store of the country’s biggest online fashion mall, Musinsa, in Hongdae, western Seoul, on May 28, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 27 (Korea Bizwire) — As the size of South Korea’s online fashion market expands, competition is heating up among major players to get the upper hand.
Most of the nation’s online retailers specializing in fashion registered more than double-digit growth in transaction volume in the first half of this year, according to industry sources.
Musinsa, the No. 1 player in online fashion platforms, saw its transaction volume rise by 40 percent year on year as of June 22.
Ably Corp. also marked 73 percent growth in transaction volume in the first half of this year compared to a year ago, while recently attracting 62 billion won (US$53.9 million) in Series B funding.
“Some online fashion retailers insist that they are No. 1 players on the basis of various indicators such as monthly active users. However, the actual scale of their business can be judged from transaction amounts,” an industry watcher said.
Major players are also vying to offer fast delivery service.
Through its fulfillment center, Ably launched a new weekday delivery service that releases products on the same day for orders placed before 6 p.m.
Zigzag, an online fashion store acquired by tech giant Kakao Corp., also launched next-day delivery for orders placed before 9 p.m.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
