Massive marketing of Merino in Korea

During the recent autumn/winter marketing campaign with Musinsa, more than 750,000 Merino wool items were available from 88 participating brands – an increase of 118% in wool products compared to the previous year’s campaign.

Representing an estimated 170 tons of wool, it was Woolmark’s largest ever collaborative autumn/winter campaign in the South Korean market.

The country ranks as the sixth largest e-commerce market in the world – and fashion is the largest segment. Online shopping continues to increase, making Woolmark’s collaboration with Musinsa a strategic priority. Established in 2013, Musinsa is the largest fashion e-commerce platform in Korea with A$1.07 billion sales in 2023 and an annual sales growth rate of 40%.

Marketing campaign increased sales

Launched in November 2024, the extensive digital and social marketing campaign boosted sales of a diverse selection of contemporary wool products across menswear and womenswear, two-thirds being knitwear and a third being woven products.

Across the campaign sales period, there was a net sales uplift of wool products of 22%, which is 10% above the campaign target.

“Through brand sales driven by the campaign, we achieved an increase in the quantity and revenue of wool products this year, just as in previous years,” said Manager of the Commerce BA Team at Musinsa, Mr Sungmin Shim.

“Despite the ongoing economic downturn and weakened consumer sentiment, Musinsa continues to grow, and sales of the Autumn/Winter 2024 wool products increased by more than 22% compared to last year. We hope to continue collaborating with Woolmark.”

As well as showcasing the premium benefits of Merino wool, the environmental credentials of wool were central to the campaign, which had the tag line ‘Merino wool, touch of nature’ along with ‘A gift from nature, Australian Merino wool’.

“By increasing consumer awareness of Australian Merino wool as a premium and natural fibre, the collaboration very successfully helped drive Merino wool product sales on the Musinsa e-commerce platform,” said AWI Regional Manager Japan & Korea, Samuel Cockedey.

“In addition, working with Musinsa also increased Woolmark’s brand image which could potentially encourage the many brands on the platform to develop further Merino wool products for their future collections.”

Digital and social marketing campaign

Targeting consumers aged 20-30, the digital and social campaign drove consumers to a specially designed landing page on Musinsa’s e-commerce website, linked to a Merino wool category page, where products could be purchased. A special app push message was sent to Musinsa customers.

The campaign had some great results, with total impressions (the number of times the campaign was seen online) reaching 43 million which is 9% above target. The number of landing page views was 333,000 which is 26% more than last year.

Video billboard advertising in two of the busiest areas of Seoul was also undertaken, which achieved a reach of 283 million.

This article appeared in the Winter 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in June 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.