Naver Webtoon Popup Store Sees Record Visitors... Expanding Merchandise Business Overseas

The pop-up stores launched by Naver Webtoon in the second half of this year recorded the highest sales and the largest number of visitors.

On the 7th, Naver Webtoon announced that the cumulative number of visitors reached approximately 170,000 across three pop-up stores held at Starfield COEX Mall (June 29 to July 12), The Hyundai Seoul (September 5 to September 17), and Shinsegae Department Store Centum City Branch (November 10 to November 23). More than 600,000 products were sold, and the highest individual payment amount reached 1.16 million KRW.

Naver Webtoon opened a pop-up store at Starfield COEX Mall last June.
[Photo by Naver Webtoon]

The webtoons "Maru-neun Gangjwi" and "Nyahan Namja," which proved their fandom through these pop-up stores, received collaboration requests from over 20 diverse brands including LG Household & Health Care, Monami, and SPAO after the pop-up stores ended. These two webtoon intellectual properties (IPs) will continue brand collaborations to strengthen their character competitiveness.

In Korea, merchandise (MD) products based on webtoon IPs, such as goods, are gaining popularity. The sales of MD products in Naver Webtoon's Korean online brand store "Webtoon Friends" in the first half of this year recorded a growth rate of about 700% compared to the same period last year.

Naver Webtoon will continue offline events next year. The pop-up store for the webtoon "Garbage Time" will open on January 25 at Yeongdeungpo Times Square, showcasing more than 100 new products.

Overseas, the webtoon IP goods business has also been launched. At the end of last month, Naver Webtoon soft-launched the made-to-order online brand store "Webtoon Shop" for its English service. Currently, it sells products such as clothing, bags, and cups using a total of 15 Korean original and English original webtoon IPs including "Tower of God," "True Beauty," "Lore Olympus," and "Everything Is Fine." Starting next year, collaboration products with various North American partners such as Bioworld, FigPin, and Walter Foster will be released.

No Seung-yeon, head of Naver Webtoon’s Global IP Business Office, said, "Based on Naver Webtoon’s know-how and business expertise, we plan to expand the business by creating good cases where creators, partners, platforms, and readers all win-win."