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Seoul-based e-commerce firm Levit, an operator of the buying app Alwayz, needs to make the buying expertise extra entertaining and inexpensive. The two-year-old startup has not too long ago raised $46 million in a Series B spherical of funding led by DST Global Partners with participation from new investor BOND and present backers KB Investment, Mirae Asset Capital, Korea Investment Partners, GS Ventures, and Klim Ventures. With the newest spherical, Levit has raised a complete of $67 million since its inception.
Alwayz presents a variety of merchandise, from every day groceries to dwelling home equipment and attire to cosmetics. But it deviates from typical e-commerce platforms by incorporating social options like quick movies and gamification into on-line buying to attract clients.
For instance, customers can earn rewards by enjoying video games nurturing the pig character Don-Don-E, or obtain crops in actual life after efficiently cultivating crops by enjoying a sport referred to as AI-Farm in its app. In addition, Alwayz not too long ago launched a “Shorts” characteristic that permits customers to look at quick movies and, in return, get reductions when buying.
It additionally attracts clients with low-price merchandise. Users get reductions in the event that they buy merchandise with different customers or their associates on Alwayz. Alwayz’s C2M (consumer-to-manufacturer) mannequin removes layers of distributors, together with logistics, stock and different intermediaries, permitting the app to supply high-quality merchandise at decrease costs. Most sellers on Alwayz are producers or producers, in response to the corporate.
“Our average product selling price is around 20% cheaper than the lowest prices on other e-commerce platforms,” chief government officer and co-founder of Levit, Jaeyun Kang, stated. “This has been made possible because lesser-known brands, which traditionally spent nearly 30-50% of the selling price on marketing in search-based [e-commerce] platforms, can now sell their products more efficiently on Alwayz through discovery-based shopping.”
Levit says video games and social options assist customers enter the Alwayz app every day and be uncovered to numerous merchandise, even when they don’t instantly intend to purchase.
“As users enjoy the engaging experience on our platform, we leverage their high engagement to expose them to a range of items through our recommendation algorithms. This way, even if items are from lesser-known brands, customers can discover and buy them,” Kang stated. Levit describes this person expertise as a “discovery shopping experience.”
When requested about the way it ensures low-priced merchandise are high-quality, the corporate CEO stated its advice algorithms assess all gadgets on Alwayz, utilizing components resembling conversion and buyer repurchase charges. “We ensure an item isn’t widely exposed until it has proven its quality, and this approach allows us to maintain the quality of items,” he stated.
Image Credits: Levit / Alwayz
Since its launch in September 2021, the startup claims Alwayz has amassed 1 million customers inside three months and has reached 7 million customers, 2.5 million month-to-month energetic customers (MAUs) and 1.3 million every day energetic customers (DAUs) in a single and a half years. Alwayz goals to safe greater than 12 million registered customers, 5 million MAUs, and three million DAUs by the tip of 2023, Kang stated, including that it has practically 20,000 sellers registered on the app.
Three founders of Levit — Kang, Sangwoo Park and Hyunjik Lee — have set their sights on two bold targets: establishing Levit because the main e-commerce firm in South Korea and capturing a big share of the worldwide discovery buying market.
Alwayz has to compete with native friends, the likes of Coupang, Naver and Kurly, however its enterprise mannequin is extra much like the U.S.-listed e-commerce Pinduoduo and China-based AliExpress when it comes to social options and lower-price merchandise.
The outfit, which has 20 folks on the workforce, is planning to carry its platform to the U.S. market as early as this yr.
“Disruption in horizontal commerce is rare,” stated Daegwon Chae, basic associate of BOND. “Dislodging large incumbents requires meaningfully better, faster, cheaper experiences, which are difficult to achieve in a mature and efficient market. Alwayz has broken through with its relentless focus on user experience, engagement and value.”