Korea International Trade Association on Tuesday signaled the launch of Kmall24.com, an online shopping mall of Korean products, designed to woo overseas customers.

KITA is the nation’s largest association of traders under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

“The mall, offering multi-languages and around-the-clock services, was designed to support the online transactions of quality Korean goods across the border,” said Lee Kwon-jae who has been in charge of the Kmall24 project at KITA.

“Korean manufacturers have been expressing interest in cross-border online transactions as online direct purchases appear to be on the rise, but few have been proven to be successful.”

KITA runs the mall in three languages ― English, Japanese and Chinese ― and offers sales and marketing support for sellers.


Data compiled by KITA shows that worldwide, the direct buying market has grown more than 30 percent a year for the past few years, showing that it is becoming an international trend.

So far, about 150 Korean goods makers signed deals with Kmall24.com. There are up to 1,630 items available, and visitors can find the products under three categories ― culture, life and style.

“The top priority for designing and operating the mall is to help shoppers more conveniently browse the products and make payments and receive their orders on time,” Lee said.

Manufacturers are now seeing new hope in reaching out to direct buyers through the newly established online mall.

“We are pleased to explore our online marketing through kmall24.com,” said Lim Mi-sook who runs a fashion accessory firm.

KITA asks for a 5 percent commission on the price of the products sold through the mall, which is lower than fees at the world’s biggest open markets like Amazon.com.

“KITA will fully support local manufacturers to give them chances to expand their ecommerce sales overseas through kmall24.com,” Lee said.

In an effort to boost the international marketing of the products in the mall, Kmall24.com formed a partnership with Amazon.com, meaning that items are also exposed to the world’s largest open market, KITA added.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)