How KakaoStyle’s Zigzag and Abley Achieved Record Growth in 2023: Insights on AI and Online Fashion Trends

[Asia Times — Kim Min-sol] The fashion market is sluggish in this downturn, but as shoppers move from brick-and-mortar to online, major fashion platforms are continuing to expand.

On April 8, the industry reported that KakaoStyle, operator of Zigzag, posted consolidated sales of KRW 219.2 billion (≈ $164.4 million) last year, a 9.4% increase from the year before. In 2022, KakaoStyle’s sales were about KRW 101.8 billion (≈ $76.4 million), so revenue has more than doubled in three years.

Operating profit rose from KRW 2.2 billion (≈ $1.65 million) in 2024 to KRW 5.8 billion (≈ $4.35 million) last year.

Launched in 2015, Zigzag has grown steadily over the past decade and recorded annual gross merchandise volume of KRW 2 trillion (≈ $1.5 billion).

Beauty has become a key growth driver for Zigzag: transactions in the platform’s beauty category jumped about 50% year‑on‑year.

KakaoStyle’s 40s–50s fashion platform Posty, which runs alongside Zigzag, saw transaction volume climb 20% last year and has surpassed 2.2 million cumulative members.

KakaoStyle says it plans to leverage a decade of proven growth and the financial stability secured by two consecutive profitable years to pursue more aggressive management moves.

Ably Corporation’s Ably also posted a strong year. The platform recorded roughly KRW 2.5 trillion in transactions (≈ $1.88 billion), exceeded 10 million monthly active users, and generated KRW 337.4 billion in revenue (≈ $253.1 million).

Ably says it achieved both top‑line growth and improved profitability by expanding its user base and broadening categories.

As fashion shopping shifts online, traditional fashion retailers have struggled while fashion platforms have surged ahead.

According to the National Data Agency’s online shopping trends, online fashion transactions rose 1.9% last year to about KRW 57.3261 trillion (≈ $43.0 billion). Accessories and fashion goods—which previously made up a smaller share—grew 7.1%, and cosmetics sales climbed 7.7%, helping drive the market upward.

Industry insiders say online fashion platforms still have room to grow as AI improves operational efficiency.

Fashion platforms have long used big data and AI to recommend products tailored to individual shoppers. As datasets have grown and AI has advanced, those efforts are finally showing clear results.

Zigzag uses data- and AI-driven hyper-personalization to recommend items, helping total buyer numbers increase 15% year‑on‑year.

Ably analyzes roughly 150 billion customer behavior events annually to suggest items matched to user tastes and boost pre‑purchase conversion. As a result, Ably’s return on ad spend (ROAS) reached 899% on its platform last year.

An industry source in retail said that data is the reason AI recommendation tech has become more refined. Companies that built strong data foundations early are now fine‑tuning AI recommendations and improving customer satisfaction.

The source added that digitally native younger consumers are likely to keep using online platforms as they age, and their rising purchasing power will continue to flow online.