Children's Unique Body Types
Consistent Communication with Customers
Tripling Annual Sales on Average
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] "Raising siblings, I enjoyed coordinating their outfits harmoniously. That evolved into a startup idea specializing in sibling-look fashion, leading to an average annual sales growth of about threefold."
Juri Park, CEO of Benibebe, was originally a makeup artist. After getting married and having children, she quit her original profession and ran a women's clothing store, but found it more challenging than expected. After closing that business, when her eldest child turned four, she chose children's clothing?a field she had been interested in?as a new startup item.
Benibebe, a children's clothing specialty store, offers coordinated outfits that stand out when siblings wear them together, similar to couple looks or similar looks. As siblings wore these pretty clothes and word spread, the first offline children's clothing store opened in 2014 grew to about 60 stores nationwide within three years. Through KakaoStory, they conducted consultations with over 1,000 people in a single day. The number of KakaoStory followers exceeded 90,000.
As their recognition grew nationwide, Park began to seriously expand the online mall to serve customers who found it difficult to visit in person. In 2017, she officially launched the online mall through the global e-commerce platform Cafe24. Since then, online sales began to surpass offline sales, achieving an average annual sales growth of about threefold and reaching 5 billion KRW in sales last year. Currently, the total number of members combining online and offline reaches about 300,000.
The representative sibling-look items include the Balloon Tongtong set and dress, Marine Couple shirt & dress, and Avocado shirt and dress. These products use the same materials and patterns, but boys' clothes consist of shirts and shorts, while girls' clothes are dresses. CEO Park explained, "They are made as if matching couple looks," adding, "These products are not found in other children's clothing malls, so they were very popular."
One of the secrets to Benibebe's steady growth is close communication with customers. CEO Park said, "We place great importance on one-on-one consultations to fit each child's unique body shape," and added, "We actively engage with customers through various channels such as Instagram and live broadcasts."
Before introducing a parcel delivery system at her company, Park personally delivered orders early in the morning for customers who wanted their children to wear the ordered clothes at kindergarten events. She said, "In the future, I want to be remembered as a company that provides products customers want at more reasonable prices while maintaining good communication with them."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
