W Concept said on the 10th that it will overhaul its global mall and move to target the Japanese market.
With demand for K-fashion and beauty surging amid the Korean Wave, the strategy is to use Japan, which has strong growth potential, as its Asian hub and expand its foothold in the fashion market.
The core of this overhaul is strengthening Japan-tailored services and improving shopping convenience. It will revamp the UI/UX across the board, introducing Japanese-language search and an AI auto-translation system. It also expanded payment methods to improve convenience for global customers.
For easier product discovery, it introduced an AI-powered Japanese auto-translation service. On product detail pages, it separately displays summaries of Korean brands and products in Japanese to improve customer understanding.
It also strengthened W Concept's differentiating brand curation and personalized product recommendation services. Based on collected customer data such as brand exploration and interest, it introduced personalization and recommendation algorithms. Through this, it plans to increase brand sales and raise product purchase conversion rates.
It supports various payment methods, including Google Pay, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Alipay. It plans to raise customer satisfaction by running a Japanese-language customer center and partnering with Japan's largest courier.
Behind W Concept's selection of Japan as its Asian hub after North America and Europe is the market's overwhelming size. According to data analytics firm Euromonitor, Japan's 2025 fashion market (including apparel and footwear) is expected to reach 8.25 trillion yen (about 73 trillion won). That is about 1.6 times the size of the Korean fashion market. It plans to overcome the limits of growth in the saturated domestic fashion market by entering Japan.
A W Concept official said, "As recognition of Korean designer brands has grown in the Japanese fashion market recently, first-half sales in Japan rose 20%," and added, "We will provide support on multiple fronts so that W Concept can become a forward base for exporting K-fashion and beauty brands."