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Tag: Kotra

  • Musinsa Helps 15 Korean Fashion Brands Enter China via Shanghai Pop-Up

    Musinsa Helps 15 Korean Fashion Brands Enter China via Shanghai Pop-Up

    South Korean fashion platform Musinsa is helping 15 domestic apparel brands enter China through a dedicated pop-up store at Shanghai’s Jing An Kerry Centre. The temporary retail space drew more than 10,000 visitors between Aug. 21 and Sept. 21.

    Running through Nov. 30 on Nanjing West Road, the initiative covers product certification and in-store sales operations. Backed by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy alongside the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the project aims to reduce costs and hurdles for small and midsize brands entering the market.

    State backing and regulatory clearance

    Participating labels include Lookast, Lebah, Tillaidie, and RSSC. Musinsa selected brands based on local demand and consumer preferences, assisting them with Chinese product standards required for local distribution and managing on-site sales.

    Small apparel exporters face steep barriers in mainland China, where localized testing, labeling rules, and import certifications routinely stall foreign market debuts. Handling store staffing and inventory management centrally removes upfront capital expenditure for the labels, letting them test mainland consumer appetite without signing long-term commercial leases.

    Testing demand on Nanjing West Road

    Securing prime frontage at Jing An Kerry Centre places these emerging Korean names beside established global luxury flagships. The high-traffic shopping corridor gives independent streetwear and contemporary labels immediate exposure to Shanghai’s core fashion demographic.

    Foot traffic numbers indicate solid curiosity, but footfall does not guarantee recurring wholesale orders. Chinese consumer spending across mid-tier fashion remains selective, and domestic Chinese streetwear brands have taken market share by responding to local trends faster than overseas competitors.

    The platform approach across Asian markets

    Musinsa’s export model shifts financial risk away from single designers and turns the platform into a consolidated distributor. The company is replicating this physical playbook across the region, pairing its domestic roster with localized retail partners, as seen in Southeast Asia where its Musinsa Standard private label partnered with ACx Retail to enter the Philippines.

    For commercial landlords, the arrangement provides a rotating roster of trending Korean brands without the lease default risks tied to single-label tenants. For the fashion brands, the structure caps downside exposure while testing whether Chinese shoppers will buy beyond short-term novelty.

    Anfu Road pipeline and next steps

    The Kerry Centre project builds on Musinsa’s permanent footprint in Shanghai. The company opened a flagship retail space on Anfu Road in December, which serves as a dedicated launchpad for Korean apparel labels seeking Chinese distribution.

    That location has already hosted individual pop-ups for brands including Ronron, Sculptor, and Stand Oil. Accessories label Find Kapoor starts a monthlong residency at the Anfu Road store on Oct. 30, while the Jing An Kerry Centre multi-brand show runs until Nov. 30.

  • ASEAN e-commerce market keeps booming

    ASEAN e-commerce market keeps booming

    The ASEAN region (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is emerging as one of the most promising e-commerce markets in the world to replace the saturated Chinese market.

    Following the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015, e-commerce is providing huge opportunities for Korean retailers seeking new customers abroad.

    Most member states of ASEAN, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, are experiencing an e-commerce boom.

    The Internet-based retail market has been relatively underdeveloped in Southeast Asia due to low Internet penetration and lack of customers with purchasing power.

    However, with the middle class growing and Internet penetration spreading, the number of online and mobile shoppers in the region is rising fast.

    Still, it is fragmented and Internet users account for only around 40 percent of the total population of Southeast Asia, indicating that the region has much room to grow.

    According to the 2016 report “E-Conomy SEA (Southeast Asia)” released jointly by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek and Google, the average annual growth rate of Internet users in the region is forecast to reach approximately 14 percent by 2020, well above 4 percent for China and 1 percent for the United States.

    Online shoppers, accordingly, are also on a sharp rise.

    According to Bain & Company, the number of digital consumers, or those aged over 16 and using e-commerce, reached 150 million in 2015. Of them, around 100 million or 75 percent actually purchased goods online.

    By nation, Indonesia ranked at the top with 51 million digital consumers, followed by Vietnam (31 million), the Philippines (28 million), Thailand (23 million), Malaysia (14 million) and Singapore (3 million).

    “Chinese and global Internet companies should look at Southeast Asian e-commerce as their next potential gold rush,” reported IT-specialized media TechCrunch in June, 2015.

    In particular, ASEAN’s e-commerce has a special feature that sets itself apart from other countries.

    For example, the online retail market in the U.S. and Korea first grew with expansion of PC-based shopping. However, Southeast Asia experienced the e-commerce boom with more consumers accessing Internet via smartphones.

    In 2015, e-commerce in the ASEAN is estimated at $5.5 billion (6.06 trillion won), and the amount is expected to rise to $8.78 billion by 2025, according to E-Conomy.

    The portion of e-commerce to retail sales in the region stood at only 0.8 percent in 2015 but is forecast to jump to 6.4 percent by 2025.

    Global players eye ASEAN

    Against this backdrop, global players are making fast forays into the ASEAN e-commerce market.

    In April, Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, purchased a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada Group for $1 billion, its largest overseas investment.

    Lazada was started by Germany’s Rocket Internet in 2012 with headquarters in Singapore. It is operating in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It is the number one e-commerce player in Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

    In June, U.S. retail giant Amazon also decided to invest $600 million to open an e-commerce platform in Indonesia, according to Daniel Tumiwa, chairman of the Ecommerce Association of Indonesia (IDEA).

    Japanese SoftBank and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Sequoia Capital acquired a $100 million stake in Tokopedia, the biggest startup investment in Indonesia. eBay, another U.S. e-commerce giant, currently owns Qoo10, the online shopping mall based in Singapore.

    Korean companies are also expanding their operations in the region to capitalize on the rising popularity of hallyu or the Korean Wave.

    On Sept. 20, CJ Korea Express, South Korea’s largest parcel delivery service company, signed an international delivery service contract with Lazada. Under the deal, CJ would deliver goods made in Korea purchased by customers via Lazada’s website.

    On the same day, KOTRA, Korea’s trade-investment promotion agency, joined hands with Qoo10 to start an online support program and help Korean small firms export their goods to Southeast Asia. Qoo10 has a total of 300 million online members in Singapore, nearly 60 percent of its population.

    SK Planet opened 11th Avenue, its online shopping mall, in Indonesia in 2014 and Malaysia in 2015.

    Korea is now focusing on expanding exports of consumer goods to ASEAN as it has faced limitations to increase external shipments of parts and intermediary products.

    “With more Korean firms entering the ASEAN e-commerce network, including Lazada, exports of Korean consumer goods, such as mobile phones, cosmetics, food and fashion items, are on a sharp rise,” Roh In-ho, KOTRA’s Asia Regional Director based in Singapore, said.

    For sustainable growth, Korean firms need to make more effort to come up with localized strategies that meet demands from local customers.

    “If diversifying marketing strategies, ASEAN e-commerce will offer good opportunities for small Korean exporters,” Roh said. “It is very important to develop designs and products that locals would like.”

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  • Korean fashion brands in Zalora pop-up

    Korean fashion brands in Zalora pop-up

    South Korean fashion brands are featuring in an online pop-up store on regional sites of online fashion portal Zalora.

    It’s all part of a concerted bid to expand recognition of Korean fashion bards across the broader Asia-Pacific region.

    Launched in Singapore, the Premium Korean Fashion pop-up shop is open until October in Zalora sites in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to the officials at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) and the Korea Fashion Association.

    Seventeen South Korean designer brands, which have been recognised for their competitiveness both at home and abroad, are showcasing their products on the pop-up store.

    A launch ceremony was attended by some 80 Southeast Asian fashion journalists and so-called power bloggers. It marks South Korea’s first marketing activity targeting the entire Southeast Asian region.
    At the event, Giulio Xiloyannis said there is growing interest in Korean fashion in Southeast Asia and that the opening of the pop-up store is not only a new attempt but also an important event for Zalora.

    A Kotra official said the trade agency will step up efforts to gain access to major online portals in an effort to make inroads into regional markets.

    “Southeast Asia is emerging as the next eCommerce market after China as youths account for a large portion of its population and regional economies are growing at a fast pace,” Lee Byung-woo, head of Kotra’s office in Kuala Lumpur. “Efforts will be made to help Korean brands gain a foothold there.”

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