This photo, provided by IPark Mall, shows an unmanned vending machine run by Parabara for secondhand transactions, set up at the mall in Yongsan, central Seoul.
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major retailers are making a string of investments in secondhand marketplace platforms.
Bungaejangter, the operator of the country’s first secondhand transactions app, recently attracted an investment of 82 billion won (US$68.9 million).
In the latest investment round, retail giant Shinsegae Group participated as a new investor through a venture capital firm that was established in July 2020.
Shinsegae’s retail rival Lotte Shopping Co. also participated as a financial investor when a private equity fund established by Eugene Asset Management Co. acquired a 95 percent stake in secondhand marketplace platform Joonggonara for 115 billion won in March last year.
Lotte Shopping invested about 20 billion won.
The primary factor behind major retailers’ aggressive investment in used goods platforms is the growth potential of the market.
The size of the nation’s used goods market shot up from 4 trillion won in 2008 to 20 trillion won in 2020, according to the Hana Financial Management Research Institute.
Another factor is the synergy with existing businesses.
As “premium” and “MZ generation (a Korean term referring to millennials and Generation Z)” are emerging as central keywords in today’s retail industry, secondhand goods platforms provide multiple points of contact with the industry’s existing businesses.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
