Emart Rushes Out of Store... 'Spain Vintage Sneakers' Crowdfunding

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Emart is selling Spanish vintage sneakers at one-third the price of overseas direct purchase through Wadiz, a crowdfunding intermediary platform.

Emart announced on the 28th that starting from the 31st, for 24 days, it will introduce two types of vintage sneakers from the 25-year-old Spanish shoe brand ‘CETTI’, which has not yet been officially introduced in Korea, through Wadiz.

CETTI is a shoe brand exporting to 14 countries worldwide, mainly in Europe. The vintage sneakers sold through this funding use high-quality handmade Spanish cowhide leather and EVA material insoles for comfortable wear. Additionally, they incorporate unique punching designs and vintage leather dyeing techniques to realize the natural look of vintage sneakers, leading trends in the domestic premium sneaker market.

The funding price is 119,000 KRW per pair of vintage sneakers, and Emart has prepared an early bird benefit lowering the price to 99,900 KRW for a limited quantity to encourage investor participation. This price is reduced to as low as one-third of the lowest overseas direct purchase price, which was previously around 200,000 to 300,000 KRW. The funding goal is 20 million KRW, and if achieved, production will be made according to the order quantity and delivered to customers in May.

Crowdfunding is a term combining “crowd,” meaning the public, and “funding,” meaning raising capital, referring to a method where companies raise funds from a large number of people. Unlike existing online and offline shopping platforms, production is only made according to the order quantity if the pre-set funding goal is met.

Emart conducted local market research in Spain four years ago and went through a year of negotiations for domestic sales. Utilizing its accumulated overseas sourcing capabilities, it discovered overseas brands and made direct transactions without intermediaries, simplifying the distribution process. Producing only the pre-ordered quantity eliminates inventory burden, and saving logistics and various fixed costs lowered the price by more than 25% compared to sales through existing Emart stores.

Meanwhile, Emart is expanding its distribution platform beyond offline discount stores to crowdfunding platforms accessible to the 20s and 30s generation. The plan is to broaden the customer base beyond the existing 40s and 50s generation by offering products that appeal to the 20s and 30s generation, expanding more widely than the large mart customer base.

Crowdfunding is a new platform where consumers act as investors and reflect their opinions in product production, enabling immediate market response prediction. Emart plans to actively utilize this for future new brand and product development to strengthen content competitiveness.

Seongeun Lee, head of Emart’s overseas sourcing, said, “Based on years of accumulated know-how, we are making efforts to discover new overseas brands and develop products covering not only fashion but also lifestyle in general,” adding, “By introducing crowdfunding, which is carried out through active consumer participation beyond the spatial limitations of discount stores, we will aggressively secure new customer segments.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.