Online fashion malls draw Chinese customers

Stylenanda Chinese Website

By Chung Hyun-chae

Fashion online shopping malls are gaining popularity in China, according to cafe24, a shopping mall solution specialist.

At the forefront of the Korean fashion wave in China is Stylenanda, a Korean online fashion brand that made inroads into China in 2010 and later into Japan and the United States.

On Single Day, the Chinese version of Black Friday, which fell on Nov. 11, Stylenanda received 600 orders through China’s online marketplace tmall, according to a cafe24 press release.

Besides Stylenanda, online fashion brands including Miamasvin, Cherry Spoon and Bagazimuri, also sell their products through tmall.

“By providing a translation service and professional style advisors, as well as actively using a messenger service called ‘QQ,’ Stylenanda has been trying to approach Chinese customers,” said Kim Sun-tae, executive director at the foreign division of cafe 24.

Stylenanda is expected to increase its sales in 2013 by 158 percent compared to that of last year.

Although online brands like Stylenanda have recently become popular, online shopping malls have actually existed since the mid-2000s. As people became more comfortable with shopping online, sales increased. Many of these companies started to make inroads into foreign markets instead of waiting for proposals from these countries.

The Chinese market is currently an important destination for companies aspiring to go global.

“The Chinese market is growing into the world’s largest market, elbowing its way past the United States,” said Lee Jae-seok, head of SimpleX Internet, the parent company of café 24.