Hanjin teams up with global fandom company bemyfriends

South Korea's Hanjin Transportation on Wednesday said it signed an agreement on business cooperation in the US with the Seoul-based global fandom company bemyfriends.

"We decided to provide logistics consulting to bemyfriends through our fulfillment service base in the US," a Hanjin source said. "We are supporting US-based fandom business through product sales and delivery management in America."

"Our independent fandom platform, which was set up as the all-in-one fandom solution b.stage, can cater to fans easily and conveniently through sales of tangible products such as community, membership and goods as well as functions like digital ticketing and livestreaming," a bemyfriends source said. "b.stage can be used not only for K-pop acts but also in a wide range of fields such as e-sports and sports teams and (content) creators."

As shown by its launch in April of Hoot Town, a global customer-to-customer direct purchasing platform, Hanjin is interested and investing in the new sector "fandom logistics" based on Hallyu (Korean Wave).

"We pursued this deal while searching for new business opportunities in entertainment," the Hanjin source said. "We expect our collaboration with bemyfriends to invigorate Hanjin's global fandom logistics unit."

Write to Hun-Hyoung Ha at hhh@hankyung.com