"What Kind of Clothes Should We Make for You?" Kolon FnC's VoC Management

From Design to Reviews
Collecting Online and Offline Feedback
Activating New VoC Channels
Zippo Sales Increase by 200%

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Yoo Seok-jin, CEO of Kolon FnC, emphasized ‘VoC (Voice of Customer)’ as a survival strategy in the increasingly uncertain fashion market. They are activating new VoC channels that actively collect customer feedback across both online and offline platforms, and identifying actual customer demand through objective data.

Yoo Seok-jin, CEO of Kolon Industries FnC Division (hereafter Kolon FnC), said on the 28th, "Although the fashion market is rapidly changing, the answer is always with the customer," adding, "We will activate various communication channels with customers and make them a growth engine for the company."

Reflecting Customer Feedback from Design Stage

Kolon FnC focuses on moving in one direction by reflecting customer opinions from design to planning, sales, and marketing. Over the past two years, they have strengthened VoC activities on the ground. The strategy team of the sales headquarters, newly established last year, visits stores at least once a week to accurately convey the brand’s message and product information while capturing customer voices on-site. These are also compiled into VoC reports and shared with the design, planning, and marketing departments within the brand. An internal system that allows stores to directly submit opinions to the business division is also in operation, creating synergy by sharing ideas not only between stores and business divisions but also among stores themselves.

Recently, the strengthening of VoC management has shown results. For example, the golf brand G/FORE, launched earlier this year, has maintained consistency from products to store displays and customer service, achieving 200% of its sales target despite being a new brand. Kolon Sports quickly identified strong sales of women’s jogger pants through VoC reports and secured timely inventory by producing additional quantities.

A Good Brand is One Chosen by Customers

At Kolon FnC’s management meetings, the formula ‘Good brand = Brand chosen by customers’ is always shared. Since last year, they have been conducting data analysis on ‘customers.’ As a result, in March this year, they revamped the E-Kolon (KOLON) membership. Customers are automatically enrolled regardless of which Kolon FnC brand they purchase from. Brands obtain customer data, and customers receive various benefits from Kolon FnC.

Customer comments are also reflected in products. The casual brand 24/7 series’ representative product, the ‘24/7 Pants,’ currently has about 10,000 comments. Kolon FnC actively incorporated customer feedback to improve the product. Since first launching the ‘24/7’ pants in 2018, they have released up to version 10. Boldist, a workwear specialty brand, operates a ‘Together Making LAB’ where customers participate in product planning, design, naming contests, sample selection, and field testing. This project actively accepts opinions from workwear customers who are also experts, and its first product is work shoes. Currently, in the first planning stage, about 50 customer opinions have been collected.

Kolon FnC also improved the customer center processing system that handles customer inconveniences and complaints. Within the employee collaboration solution ‘Workplace,’ they created a ‘VoC Group’ so that as soon as a case is received, the brand manager or even the production team in charge can be immediately summoned via tagging.

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