"Following Dongdaemun Fashion, We Will Also Open Export Channels with Namdaemun Jewelry"

Dongdaemun Clothing Brokerage Platform 'Linkshops' Receives 100,000 Monthly Orders with 30% Overseas
CEO Oh Youngji: "Expanding to Namdaemun This Year"

CEO Oh Young-ji

"The goal is for wholesalers and retailers worldwide to discover what they want online and engage in unrestricted transactions," said Oh Young-ji, CEO of Linkshops. Having grown alongside the Dongdaemun fashion market for nearly a decade as a Dongdaemun clothing intermediary platform, Linkshops is now aiming for the global market. There are five countries with fashion-intensive markets like Dongdaemun: Korea, the United States, China, India, and Brazil. The ambition is to onboard all businesses from these markets onto Linkshops. We spoke with CEO Oh, who is leading Dongdaemun fashion exports and moving closer to this goal.

On the 31st, CEO Oh stated, "We aim to match Dongdaemun wholesalers' products with global retailers to ensure strong sales, and this year we will expand categories to include jewelry and children's clothing from Namdaemun." This also reflects the urgent needs of market merchants for new sales channels. Linkshops, which understands the changes in the Dongdaemun market caused by COVID-19 best, is focusing on exports for this reason. CEO Oh explained, "After COVID-19, foot traffic to the market sharply decreased, while online traffic increased and the proportion of global buyers began to rise. As stories emerged that global sales increased by meeting overseas buyers through Linkshops, more sellers participated in exports and we were able to secure high-quality products." Exporting Dongdaemun fashion through Linkshops is both a strategic company goal and a natural change resulting from the pandemic.

To this end, Linkshops has created an environment where global buyers can purchase by supporting five languages and providing customer satisfaction (CS) services in each language. Price changes due to exchange rates are also clearly visible at a glance. Since exports require not only good products but also highly reliable information, Linkshops selects wholesale companies and provides training. Dongdaemun merchants are also proactive about exports. When Linkshops selected 100 excellent export companies for support, numerous companies applied, and selections were made by balancing each shopping district. As a result, so-called ‘star sellers’ from each Dongdaemun market shopping district gathered. CEO Oh introduced, "Dongdaemun wholesale companies wanted to export but faced difficulties due to language barriers or not knowing how to proceed. If global buyers and Dongdaemun wholesalers focus on what they do best, Linkshops will take responsibility for the rest."

The store opened last December at BHG Department Store in downtown Singapore was an opportunity to confirm the global market’s response to Dongdaemun fashion. This store, focusing mainly on Dongdaemun-produced clothing and fashion accessories, was a pop-up store and will conclude operations next month. CEO Oh said, "It was ranked among the pop-up stores for women's clothing at BHG Department Store with the highest number of transactions in a short period. The department store's evaluation was that it exceeded expectations, and we plan to open pop-up stores in other locations within Singapore."

Export results are also gradually becoming more concrete. Of the more than 13,000 Dongdaemun companies listed, over 30% of the more than 100,000 monthly total orders come from overseas markets such as China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Considering that before COVID-19 in 2019, global transactions accounted for less than 10%, this indicates growth. CEO Oh said, "We are expanding exports to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia." Linkshops plans to lead exports from the Namdaemun market following Dongdaemun this year. CEO Oh emphasized, "We will onboard jewelry companies with high local satisfaction and expand buyers to the North American and Latin American markets."