Spanish clothing design and manufacturing company Mango is seeking to make a new start in Korea with a local venture firm by adopting new strategies of localization and digitalization.
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Mango has local retail partners around the world and they are mostly large companies. In Korea, Li & Fung and Samsung C&T import and sell the Spanish brand’s apparel.
However, after Samsung C&T’s Fashion Group started its own fast fashion brand “8 seconds” in 2012, Mango has been operating a store here directly from its headquarters in Barcelona.
In August 2018, the firm selected a local venture company Mango Retail Korea to exclusively import and sell its products here, which was unprecedented in the industry.
CEO of Mango Retail Korea Kim Nak-kyun said he met with Mango Vice Chairman Daniel Lopez coincidently when he was traveling overseas.
Mango’s online sales in the last three years have been growing annually by 20 percent on average after Kim began managing the brand’s retailing here.
The biggest difference is that Kim sends local staff to Spain to select items that will sell well in Korea. Before the Mango headquarters picked clothing and accessories that they wanted to sell abroad.
Fashion merchandisers from Mango Retail Korea visit Mango’s showroom in Barcelona four times every year and consistently reorder stock online based on local inventory levels.
Mango’s advantage in global retailing lies in its up-to-date fashion trend awareness and fast delivery system but its consistency of brand style is most highly praised.
The Spanish brand is also seeking to expand its business here with a line of menswear and a children’s collection.
For men’s clothing, Mango Retail Korea will import simple and more basic style clothes that are designed to last. This is a reflection of local customers’ taste for classic items with quality.
Mango is already well known in the country and has a loyal customer base so it sees no need to spend big on marketing.
There are currently three Mango stores; Yeouido and Gangnam in Seoul; and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province. Their sales soared by 12 percent in one year after Kim started to get involved in their business management.
Mango is planning to open more branches in the capital area and Busan shortly.
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“Mango sells good quality products for a good price which made it a brand with many loyal customers. We will keep with our previous price policy on clothing while we improve the convenience for customers and provide them with a better quality of service,” Kim said.
(Source: Korea Times)