Kakao Friends to Open Stores in Taipei, Taiwan and Shanghai, China

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] KakaoIX, the operator of the Kakao character brand, is opening Kakao Friends stores in Taipei, Taiwan, and Shanghai, China.

On the 23rd, KakaoIX announced, "We will open flagship stores in Taipei, Taiwan in August and Shanghai, China in September."

Taipei, Taiwan and Shanghai, China are the first regions in the Chinese-speaking market where Kakao Friends will open official offline stores. The Taipei store is located near the Taipei 101 Tower in Xinyi District, Weixiu Street, and the Shanghai store is located on the main street of Nanjing East Road. These are considered local tourist attractions.

KakaoIX plans to introduce Kakao Friends region-specific products that can only be found at the Taipei and Shanghai stores.

Since establishing KakaoIX China in Shanghai in 2018, KakaoIX has been building brand awareness in the Chinese-speaking market by operating pop-up stores in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other areas.

They have continued their connection with the Chinese-speaking market through various activities such as offering emoticons on the mobile messenger WeChat and entering local major shopping malls like Tmall and JD.com.

Currently, they are collaborating with over 50 local companies under licensing agreements. Notably, products co-developed with China’s largest home appliance company MIDEA, the global dessert brand GODIVA, and the global beauty group L’Oreal are scheduled to be released in the second half of this year.

In September this year, they also plan to release transportation cards designed with Kakao Friends in collaboration with the Shanghai Transportation Bureau.

KakaoIX achieved sales in China in the first half of this year that exceeded last year’s annual sales of 3.5 billion KRW by the Chinese corporation, and they expect total sales this year to grow about threefold compared to the previous year.

KakaoIX is also preparing to open a Kakao Friends store within the 'Universal Beijing Resort,' scheduled to open in Beijing in 2021, further accelerating their business in China.

A KakaoIX official said, "We will continue to strengthen our brand value overseas and do our best to promote the excellence of K-characters worldwide."

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