The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The mobile messaging app operator is looking to duplicate the US tech and retail giant’s success by growing its business into online shopping, fintech, media content and logistics, The Korea Times reports.
Kakao will announce its first quarter results this Thursday; experts forecast that it will report a 43 percent rise in sales to 1.24 trillion won ($1.1 billion) and a 74 percent increase in profit to 153.8 billion won ($136.8 million), according to The Korea Times.
Though Korea has its fair share of tech firms building out multi-platform empires, Kakao could come out on top thanks in part to its messaging app, which has more than 46 million monthly active users, as well as growth across its e-commerce, media and ride-hailing businesses. Recently, the firm announced its acquisition of Croquis, the operator of fashion e-commerce player ZigZag, which creates personalised shopping experiences with an AI algorithm.
Local streetwear brands, festivals and stores selling major global labels remain relatively small but the country’s community of hypebeasts and sneakerheads is growing fast.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Senegalese investors, an Indian menswear giant and workers’ rights in Myanmar.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Korean shopping app Ably, Kenya’s second-hand clothing trade and the EU’s bid to curb forced labour in Chinese cotton.