MZ Generation Finds Their One-Pick Brand at Fashion Specialty Malls

Specialty Malls, No.1 Channel for Discovering Brands Matching Your Taste
Strength in Diverse Curations by Concept

Nearly half of consumers in their 20s and 30s use fashion specialty malls when exploring clothing brands that match their tastes.

On the 26th, the Korea Federation of Textile Industries conducted a survey targeting clothing consumers in their 20s and 30s regarding the type of shopping mall that is best for discovering brands that suit their preferences. The results showed that 44.9% of respondents chose fashion specialty malls.

The high preference for fashion specialty malls is attributed to the fact that each specialty mall curates a diverse range of brands according to its own concept, making it easier for various consumers to discover new brands that match their tastes compared to other shopping platforms. Following fashion specialty malls, 16.1% of all respondents selected open markets as channels that are easy to find new brands, followed by brand official online malls (12.9%), general malls (9.7%), and overseas direct purchase malls (3.0%).

Looking at respondent characteristics, overall, women (49.7%) showed a higher preference for fashion specialty malls than men (39.8%). In contrast, among men, all channels except fashion specialty malls showed higher responses than women, indicating that preferred channels were relatively evenly distributed. By age group, preference for fashion specialty malls was higher among those in their 20s (46.9%) than those in their 30s (42.7%), while respondents in their 30s showed a higher preference for brand official online malls at 16.9%, compared to 9.3% for those in their 20s.

Among fashion specialty malls, Musinsa held a preference rate of 55.1%, accounting for more than half. Naver Shopping ranked second with 34.8%, followed by Coupang at 10.1%. Musinsa’s preference was overwhelmingly high among male respondents at 62.1%, especially with men in their 20s (63.5%) showing higher preference than men in their 30s (60.5%). Among women, more than half (50.9%) chose Naver Shopping, nearly double the preference of men (24.7%). For Coupang, preference was higher among men (13.2%) than women (5.3%), showing a stark contrast in preferred online specialty malls by gender.