[Start人] Digitizing Dongdaemun, the 'Start of K-Fashion'... ShareGround

Leveraging Shopping Mall Operation Experience Established in 2019
Wholesale and Buyer-Customized 'SellUp' Platform
Changing Analog Work Methods... Increasing Efficiency
Users Praise as "Competent Partner and Colleague"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] There is a startup leading the digital transformation of the Dongdaemun fashion market, where K-fashion begins. It is ShareGround, established in 2019. ShareGround focuses on improving the inefficient business methods of B2B (business-to-business) transactions in the fashion industry, including wholesalers, retailers, and buyers. They operate a customized platform called 'Sellup' for these three key players in the fashion market. Since opening the beta service in 2019, the cumulative transaction amount on the Sellup platform has exceeded 500 billion KRW as of last June. After successfully raising 3 billion KRW in Series A funding last April, they are now advancing their system.

Lee Yeon, CEO of ShareGround (pictured), recently said in an interview with Asia Economy, "Through the Sellup application, we have digitized the traditional paper order forms and handwritten receipts," adding, "With just a few clicks, order forms can be uploaded, and settlement management and tax invoice processing are all possible." CEO Lee conceived this solution to address the difficulties he personally experienced while running a shopping mall business. The churn rate of medium to large retailers, who transact between 80 million to 100 million KRW daily, is in the 1% range, and most continue to use the platform unless they change industries or close down.

Users cite 'efficiency' as the main advantage of Sellup. Lee Jung-hoon, CEO of Luxwiz, who has been operating a women's clothing shopping mall for 17 years, has been using Sellup since 2019. He said, "The advantage is receiving the purchasing results as accurate and neatly summarized reports," and added, "I don't have to worry about tax invoice issues, which has improved work efficiency." Hong Yu-ri, founder of the women's underwear brand 'The Jam', which achieved annual sales of 20 billion KRW, is also a Sellup user. She described Sellup as "a service that enables efficient handling of vast tasks within limited time," calling it "a capable partner and colleague." She said, "After using Sellup for three years, all shopping mall operations have stabilized."

Introducing a new service into the Dongdaemun fashion industry, which has operated in an analog manner for decades, was by no means easy. CEO Lee recalled, "Many people were trapped in the comfort of familiarity and could not abandon the existing methods," adding, "Although they understood intellectually that using Sellup was convenient, changing the work methods that had continued like inertia was not easy." Targeting the intermediaries in wholesale and retail transactions, known as 'Saip Samchon'?buyers who carry large bundles of clothes and roam Dongdaemun?was a key success factor. As efficiency in purchasing tasks increased, word of mouth began to spread, and currently about 350 buyers are using Sellup. CEO Lee said, "Saip Samchons are like the lifeblood of the fashion industry," and added, "They have been able to reduce their workload with Sellup and secure more clients."

CEO Lee maintains the management philosophy that "the answer lies in the field." He said, "In the early stages of service development, the development team leader used to go out to the field and code," and added, "Even now, we improve the service based on voices from the field and evaluate whether it truly helps the business operators." Last year, they launched a service on the Sellup site that recommends wholesale products, allowing retailers to purchase items without visiting stores in person. ShareGround’s service, which has secured abundant transaction data, is continuously expanding. CEO Lee said, "We have been exploring ways to link wholesale and retail transaction data with finance," and added, "As a result, we recently partnered with KB Kookmin Bank to solve sellers' cash illiquidity issues." ShareGround’s goal is to build a solution that covers the entire fashion business process, from raw material supply to B2C (business-to-consumer) transactions.

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