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Shinsegae Group’s fashion platform W Concept has named a new CEO for the first time in about three years. The incoming leader is a seasoned fashion executive who previously worked at LF. Since Shinsegae acquired the company in 2021, this is the first appointment of an outsider (excluding Shinsegae affiliates) to the CEO role. The company says its first female CEO will help sharpen competitiveness and streamline the portfolio.
On March 6, W Concept named Executive Director Lee Ji-eun, head of Product Division 2, as its new CEO. Born in 1972, Lee graduated from Chung-Ang University’s apparel program. After roles at Samsung C&T and others, she began as design director at Mido in 2004.
She later worked at LF (2008) and Kolon FnC (2021) before joining W Concept as head of Product Division 2 in 2025. At W Concept she oversaw active sportswear (athleisure), private brands (Frontrow), corporate brands and imported labels. Her results earned her a promotion to CEO just one year after joining.
The atypical leadership change is aimed at responding to a fast-shifting fashion market. W Concept plans to tap Lee’s expertise to tighten the flow from merchandise planning (MD) to sales and shift more toward content-driven marketing.
The company also expects this move to sharpen its core strengths. While the previous CEO came from Gmarket with an e-commerce background, Lee brings more than 20 years exclusively in fashion. W Concept says it will use her broad industry network to boost platform expertise, move faster on trends, and accelerate the build-out of a brand portfolio that sets it apart from rivals like 29CM.
W Concept’s immediate priorities are scaling up and improving profitability. The platform’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) has grown steadily.
At the time of the 2021 acquisition, GMV was ₩330 billion (≈ $247.5 million). It climbed to ₩458.1 billion (≈ $343.6 million) the following year. In 2023 it topped ₩514.8 billion (≈ $386.1 million) for the first time over the ₩500 billion mark, and last year reached ₩650 billion (≈ $487.5 million), a 13% year-on-year increase. This marks the first time W Concept’s GMV exceeded ₩600 billion.
Still, the pace lags behind competitor 29CM, which passed ₩1 trillion (≈ $750 million) in annual GMV last year and reached ₩1.3 trillion (≈ $975 million).
Profitability has weakened. Industry sources say W Concept moved into an operating loss last year after boosting marketing investments, including a pop-up store in Seongsu-dong to raise brand awareness.
The company’s strategy is to strengthen brand competitiveness as a way forward. In fashion, that means more focus on discovering and nurturing new labels to build proprietary advantages. W Concept has already identified brands such as Mango Maniflees, Cita, RoseFranz, and HowtoLoveme.
W Concept is developing these brands while enhancing tech-driven personalization and size-recommendation services to make shopping easier. It also plans to expand beauty and lifestyle categories to accelerate growth—the recent onboarding of Shinsegae Casa’s ‘Jaju’ is part of that push.
Sports marketing will also ramp up. Ahead of the 6th World Baseball Classic (WBC), W Concept sold official national-team uniforms. Last year, sales in the sportswear category jumped 40% year over year.
A W Concept spokesperson said demand for sports-related products has risen as more women become sports fans and as the ‘blockcore’ trend—mixing team uniforms from soccer, baseball and basketball with everyday looks—breaks down the line between sports and fashion. The company plans to target women in their 20s and 30s, who have become a core consumer group in pro sports, with intensified sports marketing.
This year W Concept has worked to improve its platform fundamentals. The company reworked its membership program and beefed up content to sharpen competitiveness.
In January it cut membership tiers from six to four (W Signature, VIP, Best, Friend). The change lowers upgrade thresholds so customers can maintain higher tiers with less spending and enjoy more perks.
During the revamp, W Concept partnered with leading brands across four categories—laundry, self-improvement, healthy meal plans, and AI services. Best-tier members and above can access dedicated services and discounts from Lundrigo (laundry), Polin (self-improvement), and DesignMeal (meal plans). W Signature members receive an additional benefit from Snow (AI photo service).
As a result, the number of customers in the top tiers—W Signature and VIP—in January and February rose 18% year over year. In the same period, high-value customers’ spending and app visit frequency increased 20% and 22%, respectively.
The company has also raised content quality. It recently launched a new curation series, ‘Editor’s Choice,’ to spotlight fashion trends. With trend cycles shortening and tastes fragmenting, W Concept says this helps deliver timely fashion signals to customers.
Exclusive brand launches are increasing, too. Securing ‘EEREP,’ a new label by handbag designer Seok Jeong-hye—often called the Midas touch of Korea’s handbag market—was a notable win. W Concept says its core customers’ strong aesthetic standards align with EEREP’s identity, making an exclusive launch a natural fit.
At the same time, the company is bringing in established department-store brands that grew within traditional retail channels. W Concept plans to preserve those brands’ heritage while offering visual consulting and marketing tailored to 20–30-year-old tastes, focusing on target diversification. A W Concept official said, “We’re trying approaches we hadn’t used before to expand touchpoints with customers and maximize traffic.”
Reporter Sujin Choi jinny0618@hankyung.com
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