Home Shopping Awaits Fashion Peak Season... Overcoming Slump with Private Brands (PB)

CJ OnStyle G Studio Order Amount Up 47%
Lotte Home Shopping Increases PB Product Count by 30%
Independent Operation from Planning to Production

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As the fall and winter (FW) season, known as the peak fashion season, approaches, the home shopping industry is focusing on private brands (PB) and exclusive brands. With fashion consumption recovering due to the endemic (periodic outbreak of infectious diseases), the strategy is to overcome sluggish performance by offering differentiated products during the FW season, when the unit price per product is relatively high.

According to CJ OnStyle on the 11th, from the 1st of last month to the 5th of this month, the order amount for the exclusive brand G Studio reached 21 billion KRW, a 47% increase compared to the previous year. G Studio is a brand launched in September 2018 in collaboration with top domestic designer Ji Chun-hee and has consistently gained popularity among consumers. Currently, CJ OnStyle operates 17 brands including The Edge, Karl Lagerfeld Paris, and Celeb Shop Edition. The share of exclusive fashion brands accounts for over 60% of the total fashion category order amount.

At Lotte Home Shopping, PB product sales increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. This year, the number of products was expanded by 30% compared to last year, and the volume doubled. The representative PB, LBL, has recorded an order amount of 100 billion KRW annually since its launch in 2016. After selling FW season products, the order amount surpassed 10 billion KRW within a month, with an average of about 20,000 sets sold per broadcast. Lotte Home Shopping plans to schedule outerwear targeting early cold weather early this month and sequentially introduce new products such as knits, cardigans, and pants.

At GS Shop, sales of PB and exclusive brands increased by 22% compared to last year. GS Shop sells about 150 products from two PBs, Soul and Lapiaph, and seven licensed brands including Morgan and Brielle. Soul is a premium fashion brand that emphasizes the highest quality materials such as wool, cashmere, alpaca, and Polish goose down. It generates annual sales of 30 to 50 billion KRW based on order amount, with cumulative orders reaching about 500 billion KRW. On the first broadcast of the FW new products on the 17th of last month, about 600 million KRW worth of products were sold, and on the broadcast on the 1st of this month, sales reached 1 billion KRW.

Lotte Homeshopping is conducting a sales broadcast for its own fashion brand (PB), 'LBL'. (Photo by Lotte Homeshopping)

The reason home shopping companies focus on PB and exclusive brands is to improve profitability. PBs operate independently from planning to design and production, so there are no brand usage fees or distribution costs, resulting in higher profit margins. Exclusive brands significantly contribute to increasing sales by strengthening product competitiveness through partnerships with famous domestic and international brands.

T-commerce companies have also entered the fashion PB competition. KT Alpha Shopping introduced 14 products including fox fur goose down and full-skin mink long coats through its first PB, Le Toit, on the 5th. Le Toit means the number ‘3’ symbolizing perfection in French and pursues differentiated high-quality value by selecting only premium materials. Shinsegae Live Shopping also launched its PB Edited for the first time last month and plans to continuously launch differentiated fashion brands. Edited is a women's contemporary brand proposed by Shinsegae, characterized by premium materials and delicate details.

A home shopping industry official said, "Fashion PB products are gaining popularity with the arrival of the FW season," adding, "We plan to continuously introduce new products with good materials and sophisticated designs."

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