GS Shop is accelerating the development of its private brands, drawing on nearly three decades of sales data and customer purchasing patterns to strengthen product competitiveness and profitability.
The home shopping operator sold out its "Heriden 100% Boilable Wool Bedding Set" in a broadcast earlier this month, taking orders for about 2,900 sets, industry sources said on the 18th. Orders totaled 920 million won ($640,000), or about 150% of the target.
Heriden is a bedding private brand that GS Shop developed over roughly a year and unveiled for the first time in the broadcast. The company decided to launch its own brand after bedding orders reached about 33 billion won last year, more than triple the 8 billion won recorded a year earlier. It paid particular attention to growing demand for premium bedding, with wool products accounting for about 40% of total bedding orders. During development, the company surveyed more than 3,000 customers and incorporated their views on materials, functions and ease of laundering.
The Heriden launch strengthens GS Shop's private brand lineup. The company now operates four private brands, adding bedding to VU in beauty, Simple Bio in health supplements and Barosseum in household goods. The existing brands are also growing. Cumulative orders for VU in the first three quarters of this year rose 470% from a year earlier. Over the same period, orders for Simple Bio climbed 324% and the number of customers placing orders rose 163%.
GS Shop's strategy of expanding private brands and exclusive products is also supporting its earnings. Second-quarter operating profit rose 6.0% from a year earlier to 26.7 billion won. Operating profit has increased for three consecutive quarters since the fourth quarter of last year.
An industry official said the company's 46% year-on-year increase in exclusive products, centered on fashion, beauty and household goods, was key to the earnings improvement. The official added that home shopping operators will continue to identify product categories with high growth potential and expand their private brand lineups based on accumulated sales data and customer purchasing patterns.