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Companies

Lotte, E-mart, CJ ENM vie to acquire W Concept

W Concept Korea's corporate image / Courtesy of W Concept KoreaBy Kim Jae-heunEBay Korea is not the only target of acquisition by Lotte Shopping and E-mart. The two retail giants, along with CJ ENM, have made it on the shortlist to acquire W Concept Korea, the country's leading women's fashion shopping mall. Its operator, IMM PE, is discussing the final price with the candidates.IMM PE has whittled down the finalists for the main bidding, and the private equity fund (PEF) is expected to decide the winner within this month.Lotte Shopping, E-mart, 11STREET and CJ ENM were included in a shortlist revealed last December. However, 11STREET has dropped out before the main bidding.The remaining three contenders are very interested in buying the shopping platform, which ranks No.1 in the women's online fashion market. W Concept Korea currently holds a 30 percent share of the women's online fashion market and ranks at No. 2 in the overall online fashion mall industry after Musinsa. Musinsa's main customers are men and it once also considered acquiring W Concept to beef up its women's fashion

Mar 31, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Lotte, E-mart, CJ ENM vie to acquire W Concept
Foreign Affairs

Vice FM Choi calls for world's commitment against racial discrimination

Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon speaks during a virtual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, on Feb. 23 (Geneva time). Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign AffairsSecond Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon called Monday for the world to reaffirm its commitment against racial discrimination amid concerns over a reported rise in anti-Asian sentiment related to the new coronavirus.Choi made the call in a pre-taped speech for the UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination, as the Korean community in the United States mourns the deaths of four women of Korean descent killed in last week's shootings in Atlanta. "Given the recent upsurge of racial discrimination, indeed, this is a time to reaffirm our commitment to counter all forms of discrimination with a renewed sense of determination," Choi said.Noting reports of hate speech, stigmatization and violence against certain racial groups, the vice minister said the COVID-19 pandemic was a painful reminder of how easily one can fall victim to "disinformation, suspicion and ignorance.""Such inhuman behaviors not only

Mar 30, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Vice FM Choi calls for world's commitment against racial discrimination
Companies

JYP Entertainment partners with Tencent to expand global business

JYP Entertainment's corporate logo / Courtesy of JYP EntertaintmentJYP Entertainment invests in local cosmetic brand SIORISBy Kim Jae-heunJYP Entertainment said this month it has signed a strategic partnership with Tencent Music Entertainment to distribute its K-pop groups' music in the global market and diversify its business. “In line with the trend of change and innovation in the global music market, we aim to contribute to the development of K-pop by not only offering our musicians' music but also quality content to fans around the world,” JYP Entertainment said in a press release. Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) also said it is happy to offer more quality content to its legions of Chinese fans in cooperation with JYP Entertainment. “JYP Entertainment is, without a doubt, the best music label with many popular K-pop groups and it is praised by young music fans including those on our streaming platform. We expect this partnership to give listeners a distinguished music entertainment experience based on TME's outstanding music research, online music marketing an

Mar 30, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
JYP Entertainment partners with Tencent to expand global business
Companies

Shinsegae to launch SSG.com open market service

A customer passes by an E-mart logo on the wall at the retail store in Seoul in November 2020. Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunE-mart CEO Kang Heui-seokShinsegae Group said it will launch an open market service ― for individual dealers to sell outside products ― on its e-commerce platform, SSG.com, during the first half of this year. This move is expected to make competition among local online shopping platforms fiercer than ever. “Test operations for our open market service will begin on April 20. We have decided to introduce the service in order to secure more varied products and boost our platform's competitiveness,” an SSG.com official said.SSG.com has been selling products of Shinsegae's other retail affiliates, such as E-mart and Shinsegae Department Store. But after the official launch of the open market service in June, it will let individual dealers sell their products online, similar to on Naver and 11STREET. Its main rival, Lotte Shopping, launched open market services in April 2020 on its combined online shopping platform, Lotte ON. As part of the plan, SSG.com

Mar 27, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Shinsegae to launch SSG.com open market service
Companies

E-mart, Dongwon, SPC Samlip eye 1 tril. won size salad market

Dongwon Home Food's Crispy Fresh salad cafe on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of Dongwon F&BBy Kim Jae-heunLocal retail giant E-mart and food firms like Dongwon Food & Beverage and SPC Samlip are expected to expand their salad businesses, as what has been perceived as a diet food is now a main dish here.E-mart, the country's largest discount store chain, decided to renew its salad restaurants as sales coming from the market soared by 20.4 percent last year and 38.9 percent as of March 21. E-mart will sort 30 types of greens into five categories and label them by different colors for customers to note them easily when shopping. The products will be segmented according to the origin and type of ingredients as well as other related information. Despite offline businesses in any field shrinking due to the COVID-19 pandemic, salad specialty stores are thriving ― especially those offering take-away service. Dongwon Home Food, Dongwon F&B's retail unit that operates the specialty “salad cafe” Crispy Fresh, opened two more outlets this year to run four in total. Crispy Fre

Mar 26, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
E-mart, Dongwon, SPC Samlip eye 1 tril. won size salad market
Companies

Gmarket gives major shake-up to its mobile shopping platform

Gmarket's newly changed user interface on mobile application platform / Courtesy of eBay KoreaBy Kim Jae-heunGmarket, operated by eBay Korea, reorganized its mobile application system in January to establish a new brand identity and provide customer-centered services aiming to improve shopping experience. Since the launch of its open market service in 1999, the e-commerce platform has been sticking to a brand logo showing the letter G in front of a green background. However, it added blue and used a gradation effect to connect with the green, which are now the two key colors for Gmarket. Gmarket adopted “connection” as the keyword for its e-commerce service, which is its original brand identity. It wants to emphasize that Gmarket is the linkage between customers and products as well as customers and customers. The newly changed logo of Gmarket expresses the brand identity's essential values ― “Center” (the center of commerce), Connection (meeting of sellers and consumers), Variety (new shopping experience) and Forward (the leader of the market), in visual lang

Mar 25, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Gmarket gives major shake-up to its mobile shopping platform
Companies

Kakao may acquire 29CM, Musinsa or Grip

Kakao Founder Kim Beom-su / Courtesy of KakaoBy Kim Jae-heunKakao, which operates the largest mobile messaging app in Korea, may consider taking over younger e-commerce platforms like 29CM, Musinsa or Grip after deciding to drop out of the bid for eBay Korea.Although Kakao said it is not reviewing any type of acquisition deal at the moment, it is still very interested in expanding into the e-commerce business and is searching for new products to sell.Contrary to expectations, Kakao did not take part in a preliminary bid earlier this month for the third-largest e-commerce firm active in the country, even though the acquisition would have put the messaging app in direct competition with Coupang and Naver. EBay Korea owns e-commerce affiliates Auction and Gmarket, which focus on offering better prices or faster delivery services. Their main customers are people in their 30s and 40s who have proven to be avid online shoppers.However, Kakao's commerce business centers on mobile messenger platform Kakao Talk. The app's 46 million monthly active users (MAU) naturally flow into Kakao's onlin

Mar 25, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Kakao may acquire 29CM, Musinsa or Grip
Companies

Lotte confirms interest in acquiring eBay Korea

Lotte Shopping CEO Kang Hee-tae poses in his office at company headquarters in central Seoul, last Nov. 6. Courtesy of Lotte ShoppingBy Kim Jae-heunLotte Shopping CEO Kang Hee-tae confirmed the group's interest in acquiring controlling stakes in eBay Korea after Shinsegae, SK Telecom and private equity firm MBK Partners made their cuts in the preliminary bidding.“Sure, we are interested in acquiring eBay Korea. We did receive an investment memorandum. However, the group could reveal relevant specifics through the regulatory filing,” Kang told reporters on the sidelines of his participation in this year's annual shareholders' meeting at Lotte VIC Market in Yeongdeungpo District in southern Seoul. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters of the eBay Korea deal, the deal amount of which is estimated to come in at no less than 5 trillion won. Lotte Shopping's participation in the eBay Korea bidding process came after its ambitiously launched Lotte ON online shopping platform failed to impress, with investors saying the tepid results could put the group in je

Mar 23, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Lotte confirms interest in acquiring eBay Korea
Companies

Dongwon F&B adopts Aquacell tech for new omega-3 supplement

GNC Aquacell Omega-3 COQ-10 D / Courtesy of Dongwon F&BBy Kim Jae-heunLocal food firm Dongwon Food & Beverage launched its new GNC Aquacell Omega-3 COQ-10 D product adopting Aquacell technology that increase the absorption rate of drug nutrients. Aquacell technology was first invented by Australian biotech firm Pharmako and this is the first time the technology has been used for any supplements sold in Korea. Simply, the technology increases the body's absorption of omega-3 fatty acids by dividing the ingredient into small particles. The fatty acid in omega-3 is not easily dissolved in water. Aquacell technology breaks down fatty acids to improve their interaction with digestive enzymes, making it easier to improve the body's absorption rate as well as its bioavailability. Clinical trials showed that Dongwon F&B's new omega-3 product has a significantly higher absorption rate of DHA and EPA within 24 hours of ingestion compared to omega-3 products with typical EE-type, combining fatty acids with ethanol. GNC Aquacell Omega-3 COQ-10 D contains 600 milligrams of DHA and EPA

Mar 23, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Dongwon F&B adopts Aquacell tech for new omega-3 supplement
Tech & Science

Naver Webtoon seeks to attract $400 mil. before IPO

Characters of popular webtoons on Naver Webtoon platform are shown in this image. Courtesy of NaverBy Kim Jae-heun Naver Webtoon is in talks with several global investors to attract up to $400 million before its planned Nasdaq initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.The company sought large overseas institutional investors and ended up choosing a foreign investment bank as its financial adviser. Naver Webtoon hopes to strike partnerships with global and strategic investors to get a better offering price when it debuts on the U.S. stock market. Naver Webtoon was spun off from its parent company Naver in 2017. Since then, Naver Webtoon has been expanding its business focusing on global contents especially in North America.Last year, the webtoon firm reorganized the governance structure of its global webtoon business under a U.S.-based corporation aiming to go public there. Earlier, Naver listed its content subsidiary ― Line Corporation ― on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Tokyo Stock Exchange.Naver Webtoon's enterprise value is currently estimated at 5 trillion won. A

Mar 22, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Naver Webtoon seeks to attract $400 mil. before IPO
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