Kakao seeks to acquire top fashion app Zig Zag

Kakao's logo / Korea Times file

By Kim Hyun-bin

Kakao, the country's leading instant messaging company, is seeking to acquire the top female apparel shopping application, Zig Zag.

According to the industry, Kakao is in talks to become the largest shareholder of the apparel shopping app.

“There have been discussions on both sides over the matter, but nothing has been finalized yet,” an industry source said.

Zig Zag was launched in 2015, starting off by listing fashion items purchased in Seoul's Dongdaemun shopping district, becoming hugely popular among female users ranging from their teens to their 30s. It eventually became Korea's leading apparel shopping app among these age groups.

Sales have continued to rise since its launch, reaching 750 billion won last year, up sharply from 600 billion won in 2019. Around 3 million people use the application monthly, while cumulative downloads of the application to date have reached 30 million.

Zig Zag has been widely evaluated as making shopping more convenient for millennials by enabling them to scroll through local shopping malls in just one application.

“We have been contemplating ways to secure our competitiveness in the e-commerce sector, and we have been reviewing several different ways for doing that, but nothing is set at this point,” a Kakao official said.

In recent weeks, Kakao was one of the companies favored to acquire Ebay Korea, but it backed out at the last minute.

Some industry watchers believe that the 5 trillion won price tag might have been a burden, while others say that Kakao was focusing on an acquisition in the live commerce sector ― where shopping and live-streaming are fused ― in order to enhance synergy with the company.