Impact of Untact Consumption Spread... Croquis.com and Brandi Operating Shopping Apps Launch Large-Scale Talent Acquisition Efforts
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Talent is flocking to fashion startups. Even in a hiring market frozen by the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), companies operating platforms where fashion items such as clothing can be purchased are actively recruiting. As non-face-to-face (untact) consumption expands, daily orders increase, and services expand, securing personnel to handle this has emerged as one of the most important tasks for fashion startups.
According to the industry on the 7th, Croquis.com, which operates the women's shopping app 'Zigzag,' has set a hiring goal to increase its current 160 employees to 250 by the end of the year. The number of employees was about 70 in September last year. Croquis.com announced an aggressive hiring policy in the second half of last year, offering a bold condition of a 30% uniform salary increase compared to previous workplaces for experienced applicants joining this year. They also established welfare benefits that support interest payments for employees when purchasing houses or taking jeonse (long-term deposit lease) loans. They are also planning to relocate their office in the second half of the year. A company official said, "We are recruiting across all job groups from investment and management support to development and design," adding, "We are hiring various experienced professionals, mainly developers and those with e-commerce experience."
Brandi, a startup operating fashion shopping apps such as 'Brandi' and 'Hyber,' is also conducting large-scale recruitment aiming for 100 developers by the end of this year. By actively recruiting developers, Brandi has advanced its demand forecasting algorithm to build an optimal logistics system, alleviating inventory burdens and launching a dawn delivery service utilizing big data. A Brandi official explained, "We have separately established a dedicated office building so that developers can focus solely on their work and are investing generously in creating an environment conducive to work immersion." Brandi was recently selected as the top venture company in job creation at the '2020 Excellent Venture Selection Project' hosted by the Korea Venture Business Association. CEO Seo Jeong-min emphasized, "We will aggressively recruit regardless of academic background or specs to complete Korea's best fashion chain platform combining fashion, IT, and fulfillment infrastructure."
Luxury e-commerce platform Balland also plans to hire more than 40 employees this year. After raising 10 billion KRW in investment last December, Balland is aggressively securing talent. They are particularly looking for developers, UX designers, and product managers (PM). Along with large-scale hiring, they have expanded welfare programs. They provide points worth about 1 million KRW annually and offer low-interest loans up to 100 million KRW for employees needing jeonse or monthly rent loans. For employees struggling with long commutes, the company pays monthly rent to secure accommodation near the office.
The increased demand for personnel in fashion startups is thanks to the steep growth of the market. Especially in the fashion sector, offline-centered consumption has shrunk, while untact consumption is rapidly spreading. For example, between February and April, when COVID-19 was spreading fiercely, the monthly sales of small and medium-sized shopping malls that introduced integrated payment services on Zigzag increased up to fourfold. Brandi is also showing an average monthly growth rate of 127%.
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