[Exclusive] Former Brandy Operator 'Seoul Store' to End Service Starting January Next Year

Acquired by Newnex in February 2 Years Ago to Strengthen Women's Platform
Unique Visitors Dropped to 10,000 Last Month

Fashion platform Newnex (formerly Brandy) announced that its fashion platform 'Seoul Store' will cease operations starting January 2, 2025. The decision to end the business is analyzed to be due to a sharp decline in the number of visitors to Seoul Store since last year, leading to deteriorating business viability.

According to the distribution industry on the 12th, Seoul Store notified the service termination through its website and application (app). Seoul Store stated, "Seoul Store will end its service from January 2, 2025," adding, "The last order date is until the 1st of next month, and any remaining points unused by the order deadline can be used on Brandy (women's fashion platform) and Hive (men's fashion platform)."

Newnex acquired Seoul Store by merging with 'D-Unit,' the operator of Seoul Store, in February 2022. At that time, Brandy planned to capture the women's fashion platform market by acquiring Seoul Store, whose core consumer base consisted of women in their teens and twenties (Generation Z). Around the same time, Kakao acquired Zigzag, and Shinsegae Group acquired W Concept, heightening interest in the women's fashion platform market.

Newnex attempted to expand Seoul Store by collaborating with YouTube creators and influencers, but it appears the performance was poor.

The monthly unique visitors (MUV) of Seoul Store have been on a steep decline since last year. Although it gathered designer brands and popular brands in one place, it was overshadowed by competing fashion platforms. According to the startup industry, the MUV, which was 220,000 in January 2023, dropped to about 30,000 in January this year.

In February this year, Newnex celebrated its 10th anniversary by splitting Seoul Store into a corporation called 'Invent.' The reason was to deliver differentiated customer value for each service. Thanks to expanded marketing, the MUV increased to 54,000 in May this year. However, from June, the number of visitors sharply decreased, falling to 14,000 last month. It is presumed that the customer attrition of smaller platforms was influenced by the delayed settlements of TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, subsidiaries of the Qoo10 Group.

Meanwhile, Newnex ended the operation of 'Flare,' a Dongdaemun fashion platform targeting women in their 30s, in June last year and transformed it into 'Selfie,' an app used by fashion wholesalers. Flare changed from a parenting platform 'Mami' to a fashion platform targeting women in their 30s but failed to attract sufficient consumer interest.

It is predicted that Newnex will reorganize its business by operating Brandy and Hive following the closure of Seoul Store. According to last year's audit report, the company's sales amounted to 52.1 billion KRW, with an operating loss of 24.4 billion KRW. Due to continued net losses, Newnex's deficit has increased to 192.1 billion KRW.