Alibaba said to invest in women’s clothing app operator Ably to tap into South Korea’s booming online fashion market
- AliExpress, the international online retail platform of Alibaba, has been in talks to invest US$72.4 million for a 5 per cent stake in Ably Corp
- A successful investment in Ably would enable Alibaba to gain a bigger foothold in South Korea, where AliExpress competes against Gmarket and Coupang
Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, and Ably did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Ably shopping app, currently valued at more than US$1.5 billion, has grown to become the largest in terms of user accounts in Korea’s online fashion arena, with 8.05 million monthly active users in March, according to local mobile intelligence firm Wiseapp. Ably has said in local reports that it was the only fashion e-commerce platform to be profitable last year.
Alibaba will spend US$200 million this year to build a logistics centre and US$100 million to help small- and medium-sized firms on the peninsula to sell their products overseas, according to South Korean media outlet Yonhap News Agency, citing a business strategy document from the Chinese company.
Ably’s growing domestic market share in online sales of women’s garments appears to fit the strategy of AliExpress, which has launched a dedicated women’s apparel channel on its global platform.