Underground shopping mall and traditional market,’Rabang’… Corona has crossed the barley pass-JoongAng Ilbo

# Kim Kyung-hoon (38), who has been selling jeans for six years in the underground shopping mall of Bupyeong Station on Incheon Line 1, started’Labang (Live Commerce Broadcasting)’ in July of last year. It is to make up for the sales that fell sharply in the aftermath of Corona 19. Kim said, “The daily sales, which once fell below 100,000 won, increased to around 1.5 million won after using Labang.” On the evening of the 5th, Kim broadcasted a ‘5,000 won special price per piece of jeans’ to Labang and sold jeans worth 1.8 million won.

# Kim Min-ji (pseudonym), who runs a women’s clothing wholesaler in Dongdaemun, Seoul, said, “It was comfortable to think that I didn’t do business at all.” Due to Corona 19, it is difficult to enter the country, and overseas purchasing agency operators who visited more than 30 people a day are completely cut off. However, Lee is excited about the recent export of clothes overseas. An online platform for domestic sales, which Mr. Kim entered, has partnered with a global e-commerce platform.

A traditional market merchant who was hit by a new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) is looking for a way out on an online platform. Owners of offline stores such as Dongdaemun Clothing Wholesale Center and Bupyeong Underground Shopping Center are crossing the’Corona Barley Pass’ using live commerce and global direct purchase (direct purchase) sites.

Kim Kyung-hoon is representative. With the spread of Corona 19, the underground shopping center of Bupyeong Station, where Mr. Kim’s store is located, was hit directly by a sharp drop in the floating population. After graduating from high school, Mr. Kim, who entered the jeans wholesale business, opened his first store in the underground shopping mall of Bupyeong Station in 2014. The number of stores was increased to 3 in 6 years, but last year, due to Corona 19, it was unable to withstand rent and labor costs, so it disposed of one. Mr. Kim said, “I have been in jeans business for 20 years, and it has never been as difficult as it is now.” The underground shopping mall of Bupyeong Station is currently closed, one for every three stores. Mr. Kim said, “I jumped into’Labang’ with the feeling of grabbing a straw,” and said, “I decided to go to a business partner to buy jeans cheaply and sell them without a margin because it was difficult for everyone.” Jeans that were sold for 30,000 to 40,000 won in stores were sold for 10,000 to 20,000 won in Labang. At first, it was awkward to watch the camera and broadcast alone in an empty store, but the number of regulars began to increase through interactive communication with consumers.

Currently, more than 400 customers enter Kim’s Labang. When broadcast, the sales are about 1.5 to 2.4 million won. Although it did not reach the earnings before Corona 19, sales increased more than 10 times compared to when the business was at its worst last year. The place where Mr. Kim proceeds to Labang under the name’Bupyeong Denim Story’ is’Grip’, a mid-sized live commerce app. At Grip, there were more than 8,000 sellers as of the end of December, which had only reached 50 in 2019. Yang Jae-hyuk (39), who sells fresh kimchi in Yeosu from the grip as’ul’s mother’s son’, said, “I didn’t even know in the dream that I would be broadcasting live, because I can’t stand in front of people. There are times when I play Labang,” he said.

Dongdaemun Fashion Shopping Center, where Minji Kim runs a store, is looking for a breakthrough by expanding overseas. The new market, a B2B platform that connects Dongdaemun wholesalers and retailers, partnered with Cube, a global e-commerce wholesale platform, last December. Shinsang Market has 10,000 Dongdaemun wholesale companies and 130,000 national fashion retailers. When Shinsang Market primarily curates (places products) the products of Dongdaemun wholesalers, the Cube side processes them and re-curates (places products) and promotes them according to the trends of each country’s market. As of early January, more than 1,800 products are registered here. Online orders are coming in from Japan since the end of last year, even before the site was fully operated. Mr. Kim said, “As changes are taking place through online marketing in Dongdaemun (domestic), we expect that there will be sufficient sales recovery potential overseas.”

Reporters In-young Chu and Min-jeong Baek [email protected]