Will Kakao, the internet giant in Korea, acquire a stake in the leading fashion e-commerce startup ZigZag? Retail businesses show increase in sales as shoppers return to malls and O2O businesses also get boost because of ‘stay-at-home’ economy. Seoul gets a new mayor and Naver announces campus startup competition. A quick wrap of what happened in Korea on KoreaTechDesk.
Kakao seeks to acquire top fashion app Zig Zag
Source: The Korea Times
Kakao, the country’s leading instant messaging company, is seeking to acquire the top female apparel shopping application, Zig Zag. According to the industry, Kakao is in talks to become the largest shareholder of the apparel shopping app. “There have been discussions on both sides over the matter, but nothing has been finalized yet,” an industry source said.
Zig Zag was launched in 2015, starting off by listing fashion items purchased in Seoul’s Dongdaemun shopping district, becoming hugely popular among female users ranging from their teens to their 30s. It eventually became Korea’s leading apparel shopping app among these age groups.
Retailers report strong first quarter as shoppers return
Source: KoreaJoongangdaily
Department store sales are up so far this year as more people are venturing out and shopping. Retailers hit hard by Covid-19 are starting to report encouraging first quarter result. Sales of camping gear and golf products have increased, though baseball product and swimwear sales are sluggish as social distancing remains the norm. Revenue at Lotte Department Store from Jan. 1 through March 28 jumped 20.4 percent on year.
The number of customers who made a purchase inched up 1.2 percent in the same period, but the amount each of them spent climbed 24 percent. The number of times each customer made a purchase during the period was eight times, up 4.8 percent on year.
S. Korean O2O services grow fast in COVID-19 pandemic
Source: Korea Herald
South Korea’s online-to-offline, or O2O, services marked rapid growth amid the booming stay-at-home economy last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed Thursday. According to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the total trading volume created through local O2O services for the whole of last year reached 126 trillion won ($112.83 billion), up 29.6 percent from 97 trillion won a year earlier.
The increase largely stemmed from expanded transactions in the e-commerce and food delivery sectors. Transactions in the two sectors grew 23.7 percent on-year to reach 35.3 trillion won. The trading volume of the food delivery sector alone reached 20.2 trillion won last year, up from 14 trillion won in 2019.
Seoul’s newly elected mayor, Oh Se-hoon, started his first day on the job yesterday on April 8.
Youtube video: ?https://t.co/7xvNhI6iSj#ISeoulU #오세훈
— Seoul Government (@Seoul_gov) April 9, 2021
Naver Startup Training Organization starts Campus Technology Startup Competition
Naver’s startup training organization D2SF ( D2 Startup Factory ) announced on April 9th that it will start a campus technology startup competition. University and graduate student startup teams with skills and ideas can apply until June 13 , regardless of whether or not a corporation is established . The final selection of teams receive support development financing, Naver cloud infrastructure, dedicated work space, including a six-month incubation program.
