E-commerce Steps Up to Support 'Fashion Soho'

WEMAKEPRICE Offers Lowest Fees and Dedicated 1-on-1 MD Support
Idus Launches Fashion Designer Brand Category

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] E-commerce companies have stepped up as online platform guides for fashion SOHO (small office/home office, small-scale businesses run by individuals). Amid fierce online competition among SOHOs in the fashion market due to the recent resurgence of COVID-19, e-commerce platforms are providing various solutions to help small and medium-sized fashion partners succeed.

Wemakeprice operates the 'SOHO Mall Growth Program' to support small and medium-sized fashion partners in establishing themselves in the online market. Under this program, Wemakeprice applies a flat commission rate of 2.9% to all SOHO mall partners joining the platform. Considering that the sales commission rate for major four fashion platforms is 26.7%, according to the 'Online Fashion Platform Tenant Survey' conducted by the Korea Federation of SMEs, this represents a significant reduction in commission fees.

Additionally, each SOHO mall is assigned a dedicated fashion category merchandiser (MD) on a one-on-one basis. The assigned MD collaborates with the user to plan attractive products, shares know-how to increase sales from product detail page composition to marketing and after-sales management. A self-operated store that can use individual brand names and logos is also provided. Within the Wemakeprice platform, a separate page for each SOHO brand is created, allowing autonomous store operation like an independent mall. Support is also provided for participation in promotions to expose SOHO brands to many users. The explanation is that opportunities for SOHO mall partners to participate in promotions are expanded and all processes are supported by the dedicated MD.

Online handmade market Idus also launched the 'Clothing, Homewear (Fashion)' category last month to help domestic fashion designers working on a small scale join the platform and introduce various works to customers.

Idus has been developing services and recruiting creators since last year to support the creative activities of domestic fashion designers. This aims to raise awareness of clothing design as an artist’s creation and support the sale of high-quality designer clothing with unique stories.

Idus offers various benefits to fashion designers joining the platform. It partially supports the production of designer clothing lookbooks and detailed photography of works, and also provides existing Idus tenant benefits such as health checkups and creator education. The subsidiary Tumblbug plans to conduct funding projects as well as separate lectures and consulting.