Online retailers targeting customers in their 40s and 50s

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Online retailers targeting customers in their 40s and 50s

Overseas fashion influencers in their middle age. [INSTAGRAM CAPTURE]

Overseas fashion influencers in their middle age. [INSTAGRAM CAPTURE]

 
More online fashion companies are targeting consumers in their 40s and 50s, as people in this age group are shopping online more due to the pandemic.
 
The demographic is seen as having strong purchasing power and more loyalty than younger customers.  
 
ZigZag, a shopping app for younger people, has developed Posty, an app for older customers.  
 
Around 60 brands are selling apparel on the new app, which initiated service on July 22.  
 
Olivia Lauren, Marie Claire and BCBG are some of the brands that are featured on the app.  
 
“Following Covid-19, more consumers are going online for buying fashion items,” said a spokesperson for Kakao Style, the operator of ZigZag. 
 
The company thought “there are not enough platforms for women in their 40s and 50s to use conveniently.”  
 
Queenit, a new app for women in their 40s and 50s, received 15.5 billion won ($13.5 million) of investment this year from investors like SoftBank Ventures Asia, a venture capital subsidiary of Tokyo’s SoftBank Group, and Kakao Ventures.
 
Moranique, an online shopping app for people in their 50s and 60s, now hosts more than a hundred brands.  
 
It was established in 2019.  
 
Coupang is marketing heavily to people in their 50s and 60s for the purchasing of daily necessities, and fashion shopping is next, according to Seo Yong-gu, a professor who teaches business at Sookmyung Women’s University.  
 
The trend can be seen in the statistics.
 
The number of members in their 40s and 50s on Kolon’s online shopping mall jumped 224 percent on year from January through June.  
 
“People born in the 1980s experienced online shopping since they were teenagers, and they are now in their 40s,” said a spokesperson for Kolon Industries FnC.  
 
 
The middle-aged shoppers have grown used to the idea of purchasing luxury products online.  
 
S.I. Village, Shinsegae International’s online shopping mall for luxury products, said purchases made by consumers in their 40s and 50s jumped 50 percent so far this year compared to last year.  
 
“They used to have a strong tendency to come to a store before buying a product, but their trust towards online shopping has grown,” said a spokesperson for Shinsegae International.  
 
Data by the Ministry of Science and ICT show the usage rate of e-commerce platforms by people in their 50s jumped to 60.2 percent last year from 44.1 percent in the previous year. 
 
For people in their 40s, the figure went from 71.6 percent in 2019 to 86.3 percent last year.  
 
But companies should not strictly divide consumers based on their age because sensitivity toward trends and the aging of each person is different, according to Prof. Seo.
 
Companies should expand their categories, he added.  
 
 
 

BY BAE JUNG-WON, JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]
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