Kormotech taps into the booming e-commerce market in South Korea
The company has become the first Ukrainian pet food manufacturer to enter the East Asian market.
Kormotech has announced that it has signed an agreement with Korean distributor Careside to sell its brands Optimeal and Club 4 Paws on 12 specialized e-commerce platforms.
This includes being available on some of the country’s biggest e-commerce players, such as Coupang, Naver, 11 Street, Auction, Gmarket and SSG. The products have been available since June.
“By the end of this year, we want to start cooperating with pet store chains and veterinary clinics so that customers can see the product, examine it and feel it,” says Vladyslav Mazurkevych, Manager for Developing Export Markets in Asia at Kormotech.
Last month, the Lviv-headquartered pet food manufacturer supplied Careside with around 24 tons of dry and wet pet food.
With this new partnership, Kormotech aims to leverage the East Asian country’s online sales potential. It is believed that around 67% of purchases in South Korea are done online.
International footprint
The Ukrainian manufacturer, which hit sales of $152 million (€141.2M) in 2023, increased its share of foreign sales to 31%.
The company recently expanded its footprint to 42 countries worldwide with boosted operations in Malaysia, Finland, Spain and Italy.
Last year, the Ukrainian firm’s sales by volume increased the most in the Romanian (+35%), Polish (+11%) and Moldavian (+11%) pet markets.