South Korea’s retailers pour investment to secondhand marketplaces

The used goods market has seen rapid growth in the past decade.

South Korea’s major retailers have been making a string of investments in secondhand marketplace platforms, Korea Bizwire reported.

Bungaejangter, the operator of the country’s first secondhand transactions app, recently attracted an investment of $68.9m (KRW82b), with Shinsegae Group participating as a new investor through a venture capital firm that was established in July 2020.

Lotte Shopping also participated as a financial investor when a private equity fund established by Eugene Asset Management acquired a 95% stake in secondhand marketplace platform Joonggonara for $96.46m (KRW115b) last year. Lotte Shopping invested about $16.77m (KRW20b).

The major retailers’ aggressive investment in used goods platforms has been attributed to the growth potential of the market, with the size of the nation’s used goods market shooting up in the past decade, based on data from the Hana Financial Management Research Institute.