LOLOTEN (www.loloten.com), an online shopping site specializing in plus size women’s clothing in South Korea, has shown steady growth for 10 years since it’s opening in 2006. The secret lies in doing business step-by-step without rushing or being overambitious.
CEO of LOLOTEN, Baek Song, 38, has used her knowledge and experience in managing an online shopping site to launch her business globally. Done through cafe24 (www.cafe24.com), a global e-commerce platform based in South Korea, she has launched her sites in English (en.loloten.com/), Chinese (cn.loloten.com/), and Japanese (jp.loloten.com/). Among them all, the English website has been excelling.
She said, “From the total global sales generated in English-speaking countries, 50% comes from Hong Kong while 20% is from the USA.” She also explained that in addition to these countries, sales from Southeast Asia and China have been steadily rising, and she attributes part of this success to her preparation in hiring the correct people who can speak the necessary language since 3 years ago.
Also, CEO Baek knew from the beginning that she needed to analyze the needs of customers in her target-country and register all necessary trademarks when going global. Besides, her thinking that plus-size clothing can also be widely accepted by global customers has also been another reason to expand her business outside South Korea.
Baek explained, “All items sold on LOLOTEN can be worn comfortably without looking tacky and out of style.” Sizes for tops range from 55 (equivalent to M) to 110 (equivalent to XXXL) while pants range from 26 to 38 inches. In addition, while many other shopping sites carry a very limited variety of pants, one of LOLOTEN’s competitiveness lies in the wide variety of plus size and fashionable pants customers can choose from. LOLOTEN carries clothing that any women, regardless the country, can wear.
The reason why LOLOTEN carries a wide number of pants is all due to in-house manufacturing, which started in 2008. As of now, 20% of all pants are manufactured internally, taking over 60% of the overall sales generated. Together with the loyal customers accumulated over 10 years and global customers that look for LOLOTEN’s uniqueness look for products made within LOLOTEN.
LOLOTEN plans on keeping its global business active and manufacture more items in-house. CEO Baek went on to say, “We will continue working hard to keep expanding the business, especially in this infinite global market. We will make sure to have the best trendy items that not only Korean customers but also global customers can enjoy and be fashionable.”
Staff Reporter Yoon, Heeseok | pioneer@etnews.com