#FYI_About_APM | Transition Has Been Happening: Wholesalers of apM Malls Embrace Shifts in the Non-contact B2B Clothing Market
Driven by COVID-19 impacts, e-commerce business has grown dramatically. Korea’s largest B2B clothing shopping malls apM, apM PLACE and apM Luxe — where apM Coin’s customer reward system is to be adopted — also has seen a big lift in online business transactions between the wholesalers and buyers amid COVID-19 since the early 2020. In the two-decade survival and growth history of apM malls coping with challenges by SARS, MERS and novel Coronavirus, wholesalers of apM malls have played a pivotal role as the malls’ essential ecosystem partner.
Given that apM malls are wholesale markets in Korea, the malls have eye-catching features that are different from most general shopping malls. One of them is that the malls open throughout the night — from 8:00 PM to 5:00 AM the next day. And the wholesalers here are mostly in their 20s and 30s. This is because of the nature of overnight malls and fast-changing Korean B2B clothing markets, which require more physical energy and agile business sense to keep up with the latest fashion trends or spot new trends. You would be surprised to see the apM malls are packed with these night owl wholesalers’ dynamic energy when you come to the malls in the middle of the night. In one episode of Korea’s documentary TV program Documentary Three Days, wholesalers of Dongdaemun wholesale clothing markets and their business hit the air. The narrator described the wholesaler’s life pattern as ‘The Life of Young-Blooded Night Owl’.
From two or three years ago, the new category of customers has expanded their influence in this young and fashion savvy Korea’s B2B clothing malls. They are Chinese online celebrities Wanghong who have strong influence on a large number of followers’ decision to buy. These online celebrities visit wholesale brands in the apM malls and conduct live-streaming sessions with their smartphone, presenting stylish clothes and accessories and taking large orders from their followers. It can be said that the wholesalers of apM malls have paved the way in the e-commerce market through Wanghong economy.
Read more🔎: #FYI_About_APM: The Booming Marketing Influencer, ‘Wanghong’ Comes to Dongdaemun
In addition to Wanghong’s SNS channels and online B2B sales platforms, the video-sharing SNS TikTok has become the new sales channel for the wholesales amid COVID-19 crisis. Considering that most TikTok users are Chinese and the malls are particularly popular and well-known in China, this China-based SNS can be the most optimal channel that the malls’ wholesalers can be in contact with buyers of B2B clothing retail/distribution markets as well as consumers in the B2C market. If you search #apM, #apMPLACE, #apMLuxe on TikTok, you will be instantly redirected to the search results page with thousands of fashion products directly presented by several wholesale brands of apM malls. The brands display their latest collections by live broadcasting or short-minute fun videos; the wholesalers have tried to increase digital interactions with their buyers and targeted consumers.
Meanwhile, digital lookbooks have become a more powerful tool for bringing the brands front and center as these online fashion catalogues can be the best way to show wholesalers’ latest fashion products online, which means the quality of stylised photos and videos are extremely important to present the product features. In this regard, to support the business growth of wholesalers in apM malls, apM shopping malls open photo studios in apM, apM PLACE and apM Luxe, exclusive for the malls’ wholesalers, and rent the studios for free to the wholesalers.
It is assumed that the growth of apM malls — having pioneered the Korea’s B2B clothing market with the malls’ 1,300+ wholesale brands — is led from the malls and wholesalers teaming up to survive and grow in crises while adapting to changes with strategic flexibility and change-ready mindsets. As apM Coin’s customer reward platform is planned to be adopted in apM, apM PLACE and apM Luxe, most users of the platform will be 1,300+ wholesalers and thousands of local and global buyers. By presenting user-friendly apM Members mobile app, apM Coin will make full efforts to provide CRM services that encourage interaction and business transactions between the wholesalers and buyers amid more fast-changing and digital-focused business environments.
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