Naver, Zigzag take the fight to Musinsa's turf in Seongsu-dong

On Tuesday afternoon in Seongsu 2-ga, Seongsu-dong, Seoul, a large red advertisement on the exterior wall of a building across from Musinsa Kicks — the footwear-focused select shop run by Musinsa — caught the eyes of passersby. The banner promoted "Knock It," a fashion service Naver launched in April. To the right of that building, Musinsa Empty, Musinsa's online-offline select shop, was open for business.

Tensions among fashion platforms are rising in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, as challengers set their sights on the home turf of Musinsa, the country's top fashion platform.

According to Naver, the advertisement has been running since June 22 across Seongsu-dong, Hannam-dong and the Hongdae area, timed to coincide with "Knockdown," the platform's first major sale since its launch. In Seongsu-dong, banners were hung along Yeonmujang-gil and the cafe street. The cafe street is a particularly strategic zone for Musinsa, where it operates multiple stores including Musinsa Megastore Seongsu, Musinsa Kicks and Musinsa Empty.

Zigzag also made its presence felt in the area, placing a large outdoor advertisement on the exterior wall of the building right next to Musinsa Megastore Seongsu, bearing the slogan "Shop on Zigzag, deliver straight ahead." Kakao Style, which operates Zigzag, said the placement was not aimed at Musinsa but was chosen as the venue for a pop-up event by one of its partner brands.

The timing drew attention nonetheless, as both Musinsa and Zigzag were running their biggest discount events of the first half of the year at the same time. Musinsa posted on its official Instagram account with lines reading, "Zigzag? That's for people who go the long way around" and "Musinsa goes straight." Zigzag fired back by unveiling a coupon event parodying Musinsa's discount campaign "Mujinjang" under the name "Mushinsa," quipping that it was "grateful for the free advertising."

Industry observers see the moves as a marketing strategy by challengers leveraging Musinsa's dominance in the fashion sector — an attempt to capitalize on both the symbolic weight Musinsa carries in Seongsu-dong and the foot traffic it draws. Using the market leader directly or indirectly in one's own marketing is a common tactic. Overseas, Coca-Cola has appeared in Pepsi ads, and Burger King has run campaigns targeting McDonald's, including "The Whopper Detour."

Some in the industry also see the rivalry as a strategy to boost sales during the fashion sector's traditional slow season. The second quarter tends to see lower revenue as lighter, lower-priced summer clothing dominates sales. "Musinsa's humorous response to Zigzag's banner ended up generating publicity for both events," one industry official said. "It likely had a positive impact on both sales and brand image."