Three companies competing in South Korea’s women’s fashion platform market — Ably, Zigzag and W Concept — posted mixed profit results last year and are pursuing different business strategies this year. Ably is putting weight on technology upgrades and expansion into new businesses, while Zigzag is focusing on strengthening delivery and category competitiveness. W Concept plans to move ahead with brand competitiveness and service upgrades.

On April 17, the industry said Ably, Zigzag and W Concept are maintaining a competitive structure in the women’s fashion platform market.

Last year, Ably led the race in scale. Ably Corp, the operator of Ably, posted sales of 369.7 billion won last year, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier, the largest among the three. That was up 295.5 percent from 93.5 billion won in 2021. KakaoStyle, which operates Zigzag, posted sales of 219.2 billion won last year, up 236 percent from 65.2 billion won in 2021. W Concept Korea also posted sales of 119.5 billion won last year, up 17.8 percent from 101.4 billion won in 2021, extending its growth trend.

Profitability, however, diverged. Ably Corp posted an operating loss of 4.3 billion won last year, remaining in the red for a second straight year. The loss narrowed 72 percent from an operating loss of 15.4 billion won a year earlier. The company explained that investments in new businesses, including the men’s fashion platform 4910 and the Japan service Amood, were reflected in the result. On an Ably-only basis for its core business, it posted sales of 337.4 billion won last year and operating profit of 13.0 billion won.

KakaoStyle, which operates Zigzag, posted operating profit of 5.8 billion won last year, widening from 2.2 billion won a year earlier. It continued a trend of improving profitability by expanding profit through last year, after turning to profit in 2024 from a loss in 2023.

W Concept Korea, the operator of W Concept, posted an operating loss of 3.1 billion won last year, swinging to a loss. Profitability retreated compared with operating profit of 1.6 billion won a year earlier. Despite a slight increase in sales, it failed to translate that into profit, making a recovery in profitability a key task this year.

◆Three companies with diverging results... different business strategies this year

This year, the three women’s fashion platforms are putting forward different business strategies.

Ably is seeking to increase gross merchandise value by improving efficiency in existing commerce operations and upgrading technology. It aims to strengthen competitiveness by building a convenient shopping environment in women’s fashion commerce. It will also continue to diversify its portfolio through new businesses. It plans to expand the scale of men’s fashion platform 4910 and broaden its global business centred on its Japan service Amood. It is also preparing to launch a data-based private-label beauty brand targeting people in their teens and 20s.

Zigzag is setting expansion of female customers in their 30s and improving delivery competitiveness as key tasks this year. It plans to strengthen its selection aimed at women in their mid-to-late 30s and upgrade product recommendation technology tailored to their preferences to boost gross merchandise value. In delivery, it is expected to accelerate expansion of its “Jikjin Delivery” service. The company said the share of Jikjin Delivery in total gross merchandise value last year rose about 22 percentage points from 2022. It plans to expand the range of Jikjin Delivery products and pursue inventory operation efficiency using big data at the same time.

It is also diversifying categories. In beauty, it is strengthening exclusively bundled products and early-launch products. In lifestyle, it is expanding product lines to include beauty devices and digital accessories. In food, it is also reviewing an expansion of items centred on popular desserts. It is also expected to work on attracting consumers through creator marketing and other initiatives.

W Concept is placing weight this year on strengthening competitiveness as a fashion platform. After newly appointing Chief Executive Lee Ji-eun (이지은), a fashion expert, last month, it is accelerating efforts to bolster competitiveness in fashion. It plans to strengthen product competitiveness by securing domestic and overseas fashion brands and to expand high-sensitivity content that can promote brands effectively.

W Concept is also pursuing service upgrades, including a renewal of the main screen of its mobile app on April 15. A key feature is that it moved away from a simple product listing format and placed brand lookbooks and its own photo editorials at the forefront. This is seen as an attempt to make its identity clearer as a brand-centred platform.

◆Competitiveness strengthening amid wider AI use

Beyond business strategy, approaches to using AI are also emerging as a factor that will differentiate platform competitiveness. Ably is placing weight on using upgraded existing AI recommendation technology and platform infrastructure to improve profitability. The company is applying its user data of about 10 million people and its AI recommendation system to new businesses such as 4910 and Amood. It aims to reduce the burden of marketing and infrastructure costs and secure both profitability and growth engines.

Zigzag is using AI both to upgrade customer service and improve internal operational efficiency. On the customer-service side, it is continuously upgrading an AI personalisation recommendation service it has operated since 2017 and is applying personalised product recommendations to the home screen and search results.

Its AI-based image search service “Zigzag Lens” posted an increase of about 40 percent in users last year from the same period a year earlier. Internally, it is also expanding review image screening using a large language model, or LLM, and automation of promotional events using generative AI. It is currently operating more than 70 percent of all promotional events through AI automation and plans to raise that share to more than 90 percent this year.

A Zigzag official said, “Beyond this, we are making progress company-wide, or planning to do so, on infrastructure upgrades using AI such as AI training and automation of repetitive tasks.”

W Concept is applying AI to fashion size recommendations and personalisation algorithms, and plans to gradually expand the scope of its use in the future. A W Concept official said, “This year we will work to increase competitiveness across products and app services overall.”