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.
EBay will sell its South Korean business to retailer Shinsegae Group’s E-Mart Inc and web portal operator Naver for about 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion), local newspapers reported on Wednesday.
EBay Korea is the country’s third-largest e-commerce firm with market share of about 12.8 percent in 2020, according to Euromonitor. It operates the platforms Gmarket, Auction and G9.
E-Mart said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it was talking with eBay Inc after entering a binding bid for acquiring eBay Korea this month, but that nothing had been finalised.
Naver and eBay Korea declined to comment.
Lotte Shopping had also been in the running, the Korea Economic Daily and other newspapers said, citing unnamed investment banking sources.
South Korea represents the world’s fourth largest e-commerce market. Driven by the coronavirus pandemic, e-commerce has soared to account for 35.8 percent of the retail market in 2020 compared with 28.6 percent in 2019, according to Euromonitor data.
Shinsegae and Naver formed a retail and e-commerce partnership in March by taking stakes worth 250 billion won in each other’s affiliates.
Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Gerry Doyle
Imran Amed shares his observations from a trip to the wealthy desert metropolis, home to the most lucrative stores for many of the world’s top fashion brands.
Spurred by rapid growth in the pure luxury market, global brands operating in lower-priced segments like contemporary fashion are entering the country or accelerating expansion plans.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features India’s textile industry, Chinese beauty major Yatsen and Ghana’s newest garment factory.
Luxury fashion retailers in the oil-rich African nation keep a low profile to provide a discreet shopping environment for consumers and avoid flaunting the elite nature of their own business.