[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Next i has established a strategic partnership with Seongsin Sangsa, an eco-friendly natural detergent manufacturing company famous for the domestic representative eco-friendly detergent brand ‘Rainbow Shop’.
On the 10th, Next i announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Seongsin Sangsa to secure the Chinese distribution rights for Rainbow Shop products. This project was conducted under the supervision of Mot Private Equity, a private equity fund (PEF) management company that acquired Seongsin Sangsa.
In December of last year, Next i invested 12.3 billion KRW in ‘Mot Beauty Bio Private Equity Investment Partnership,’ established by Mot PE to promote new businesses such as bio. This was to generate fund investment returns through acquiring promising companies and to create business synergy between Next i and the Chinese market.
Seongsin Sangsa launched the ‘Rainbow Shop’ brand in 2011 and expanded its product line based on the ‘eco-friendly trio’ known as baking soda, citric acid, and sodium percarbonate, to include kitchen detergents, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dishwasher and air fryer detergents, household goods, and body care products. Due to the steady popularity of eco-friendly cleaning agents, it achieved first place in sales on major online shopping sites and recorded sales of 9 billion KRW last year.
Kim Won-geun, head of Mot PE, said, “Seongsin Sangsa is the number one domestic eco-friendly natural detergent company equipped with all systems from premium eco-friendly product planning and research and development, raw material sourcing and manufacturing, online-centered marketing and sales, to after-sales customer service.” He added, “By utilizing our domestic and international sales networks, we will enter the Chinese, Taiwanese, Southeast Asian, Japanese, North American, and European markets and grow it into a leading eco-friendly natural detergent company representing South Korea.”
He continued, “Especially by leveraging Next i’s distribution network, which has strong dominance in the Chinese market, we will be able to successfully establish the ‘Rainbow Shop’ product lineup in China.” He also said, “We plan to expand the product line beyond detergents to cosmetics, diapers, wet wipes, quarantine supplies, pet products, and also plan new expansions and additions to manufacturing and production facilities.”
According to Mot PE, the Chinese detergent market’s liquid detergent segment alone reaches an annual scale of 30 billion yuan (approximately 5.5 trillion KRW), raising expectations for increased sales of Seongsin Sangsa following Next i’s entry into the Chinese market.
A Next i official said, “By leveraging Seongsin Sangsa’s excellent product capabilities and our Chinese distribution network, both companies will grow together,” and added, “Starting with eco-friendly detergent exports, we plan to continue cooperation in various fields in the future.”
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