CJ Olive Young, a strong offline health and beauty (H&B) player, has surpassed 20 million domestic and international online members. Fashion platform Musinsa is also likely to surpass 20 million members by the end of the year. Focusing on beauty, health, and fashion categories, vertical commerce platforms have grown to become mega platforms standing shoulder to shoulder with giant e-commerce platforms that handle a wide range of products.
As of this month, Olive Young has surpassed 17 million domestic online members. Following an increase from 10 million in 2021 to 16 million in June last year, a rapid growth trend has continued. Adding the 4.5 million members secured from global malls, the total membership has exceeded 21.5 million, surpassing the 20 million mark. This figure excludes dormant members and those who have withdrawn their accounts.
Fashion powerhouse Musinsa is also on the verge of joining the '20 Million Club.' The number of Musinsa's domestic customers is approximately 16.5 million as of this month, with around 1.9 million customers at global stores. It is expected to surpass a total of 20 million members by the end of the year.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Coupang's active product commerce customers numbered 24.6 million. The annual number of buyers on large domestic open market platforms is around 20 million. Analysis suggests that Olive Young's online mall, a vertical platform focused on beauty and wellness, has secured an influence comparable to that of comprehensive malls.
An Olive Young official explained, "By strengthening membership benefits and providing differentiated brand experiences that connect online and offline, we are expanding loyal customers with differentiated product planning and curation capabilities and an omnichannel infrastructure."
In fact, Olive Young is strengthening its strategy to delve into customers' overall lifestyles. By enhancing the 'Olive Members' benefits that link online and offline, they are expanding loyal customers. For example, they are extending customer stay time by offering experiential classes called 'Olive Classes' linked to beauty and wellness brands every month for Gold and Black Olive members, the top-tier membership grades.
The 'Online for Offline' (O4O) strategy, which links offline store experiences with online services, is also robust. Olive Young has enhanced experiential services such as the use of lounges in Olive Young N Seongsu and Central Gangnam Town, providing free beverages and snacks, and gift wrapping services. Next month, they plan to introduce their own 'Olive Points' system, increasing the locking effect with a dual accumulation structure with the existing CJ ONE points.
Musinsa, on the verge of surpassing 20 million online members, has attracted online members by leveraging a vast product range and various collaboration models. Recently, they have been enhancing the online and offline shopping experience by introducing offline stores nationwide. In overseas markets such as Japan, the O4O strategy, which is driven by pop-up stores, has been successful, accelerating growth.
An industry official stated, "While in the past, e-commerce markets were dominated by comprehensive malls that relied on price competitiveness and fast delivery, vertical malls that focus on expertise and customer experience are emerging as new strong players."