Coupon codes issued by Zigzag, left, and Musinsa, which play on the other company's nameSCREEN CAPTURE
Fashion e-commerce platforms Musinsa and Zigzag bantered with each other on social media last week — and that playful exchange has led to more sales and greater interest in their summer events.
Zigzag's annual Summer Black Friday event's gross merchandise value (GMV) from June 15 through Monday rose 30 percent compared to last year and 80 percent compared with the previous 8-day period. The sale itself runs from June 15 to next Monday.
The number of active users during the event increased 15 percent from last year as well.
Musinsa also ran a similar event — the Mujinjang summer sale — between June 14 and Wednesday.
Rather than treating their overlapping sales period as competition, the two companies turned it into a playful social media feud that became a marketing campaign.
On June 18, Musinsa tagged Zigzag’s official account in an Instagram post that read, “Zigzag? That’s for people who zigzag around in circles. Musinsa goes straight ahead,” poking fun at its rival’s name.
In the comments, Zigzag wrote, “We’re working overtime because of this. Just wait.”
A post on Musinsa's official Instagram pokes fun at ZigzagSCREEN CAPTURE
The company later released the 10 percent discount code “Mu-shwin-sa,” a pun on Musinsa that replaces the syllable “sin”with “shwin,” which means “old” in Korean.
Musinsa hit back with its own 20 percent discount code, “Zig-geulk Zag-geulk,” given to select customers on a first-come, first-served basis. The discount is a play on Zigzag’s name and incorporates the Korean phrase geulkhida, which, when used as slang, means to become visibly irritated after someone hits a sore spot.
Musinsa said that it received nearly 30,000 customer inquiries related to the social media campaign.
Other retailers and fashion brands joined the feud, with the official accounts of CJ CheilJedang, Paldo, CJ OnStyle, 29CM, SPAO and Mixxo leaving lighthearted comments promoting their own products.
Ottogi wrote, “This is a rivalry on the level of Jin Ramen Mild vs. Jin Ramen Spicy,” referring to the debate between which of the company’s two instant noodle flavors tastes better.
Job platform Wanted commented, “We’ll cheer for the losing side. When it’s time to change jobs, use Wanted.”
Pepsi Korea wrote, “You must be exhausted from the feud. Have a cold Pepsi, then keep going.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
