Korea Land and Housing Corporation Partners with Naver to Promote Digital and Global Transformation of Dongdaemun Market

Logistics Innovation and New Deal Startup Support... Leading the Activation of the Innovation Ecosystem

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] KDB Industrial Bank and Naver have joined forces to revitalize the Dongdaemun fashion market in Seoul.

On the 17th, Industrial Bank announced that it signed a business agreement to support the digitalization and globalization of the Dongdaemun fashion market and to foster startups in the New Deal sector.

The Dongdaemun market is a world-renowned fashion cluster where design, materials, manufacturing, and distribution are concentrated within a 5 km radius. However, it has recently faced difficulties such as a sharp decline in sales due to the infiltration of low-priced Chinese fashion and the impact of COVID-19.

The agreement was established to transform Dongdaemun's traditional logistics into an advanced fulfillment system and to digitalize all stages of design, manufacturing, and distribution to revitalize Dongdaemun. The fulfillment system is a logistics outsourcing service that comprehensively handles everything from product storage, inventory management, delivery, to after-sales service on behalf of customers.

Both organizations agreed to cooperate mutually to support the Dongdaemun market's resurgence, the global expansion of K-fashion, and the digital industrial transformation. Specifically, multifaceted cooperation will be carried out, including ▲ joint investment in startups in the New Deal sector ▲ financial support through investment and loans from Industrial Bank for startups collaborating with Naver in the fulfillment field ▲ providing opportunities for KDB Next Round participation to companies recommended by Naver.

Naver plans to support Dongdaemun fashion sellers so they can focus on sales and marketing without worrying about logistics, and also assist their global expansion through the Smart Store service scheduled to launch in Japan.

Prior to signing the agreement, Industrial Bank also decided to invest 10 billion KRW in Brandi, a Naver-invested company. Brandi is a startup that introduced the fulfillment system to the Dongdaemun market for the first time in Korea, automating the entire process from order reception to after-sales service, and was selected as one of the ‘1000 National Representatives of Innovative Companies’ this year.

An Industrial Bank official said, “We expect the Dongdaemun market to evolve into a smart fashion cluster by breaking away from the limitations of traditional distribution networks, based on Brandi’s advanced logistics system and Naver’s global platform,” adding, “We will continue to cooperate with Naver to foster logistics innovation and startups in the New Deal sector in Korea and lead the innovation ecosystem.”

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