Namdaemun exploring cyber sales

Namdaemun Market, one of the most traditional and old-fashioned markets in Seoul, is undertaking a cyberspace experiment. Tomorrow the market will open an Internet shopping mall “E-namdaemun” with 560 different shops, or 10 percent of Namdaemun’s total shops participating. More than 28,000 products are available on the Web site, www.enamdaemun.com. The site had a trial run for three months. An average of 2,000 people a day have visited the Internet site, with about 30 sales a day. The market vendors are satisfied so far and predict more cyber sales to come, as some shops are already experiencing the effectiveness of the online market. Gyeongansa, a wholesale nail art equipment shop in Namdaemun, received an order worth about 10 million won ($8,700) from New Zealand through the Web site in July. “I saw the order on the computer when I came back from vacation; I thought it was a prank and ignored it. Two days later, a shop in New Zealand called me and complained about the service,” said Hwang Dae-yong, owner of the shop. “I didn’t know the online market was that powerful.” Since 80 percent of sales at Namdaemun come from retailers who need to buy at wholesale prices, the Web site offers both wholesale and retail prices for all items for the first time in the online commerce industry. However, wholesale prices are shown only to registered retailers. For others, the Web site shows only retail prices, since wholesale prices are usually kept between the market and the retailers. E-namdaemun was designed to account for this unique feature of the market. The site cost about 1 billion won and was funded by the Seoul government, district offices, and shop owners. Sales are predicted to increase, especially of wholesale goods, as retailers from distant regions will save time and travel costs by using the online market. E-namdaemun will soon have an English Web site for costume jewelry shops. Foreign buyers account for 70 percent of those sales. by Yang Sunny