South Korean fashion e-commerce platform W Concept is venturing offline, launching its first brick-and-mortar store at Shinsegae Gyeonggi department store.
The launch follows the brand’s pilot program late last year, under which it opened a pop-up store for two weeks to test offline sales capacity. A spokesperson for W Concept told local press that the sales generated from the store were double its target.
The new brick-and-mortar store, located on the third floor of the shopping centre, will be home to about 20 fashion labels, including W Concept’s exclusive brands.
Launched in South Korea in 2006, the online fashion platform was acquired by SSG.com last year for 265 billion won (US$218 million), becoming a subsidiary of Shinsegae Group.
The company said with Shinsegae Group’s infrastructure, it will focus on implementing the O4O (Online for Offline) strategy which will allow customers to buy a product through an online app after checking it at the physical store.