Tappytoon has entered the merch field by launching its new shop, Club JEM, on November 20. Fans quickly showed their enthusiasm by snapping up items.
Tappytoon developed Club JEM in partnership with b.stage, a global fandom platform, to “accelerate the global reach of K-Webtoons and strengthen fandom engagement.” The merch shop debuted with four BL series—Wet Sand, Hair-Raising Desires, Cherry Blossoms After Winter and ENNEAD—and the sole GL series, I Love Amy. Tappytoon chose these titles to start due to their “strong core fandoms.”
b.stage plans to deliver end-to-end support, managing global e-commerce setups, logistics and fandom engagement tools. So far, b.stage has focused more on K-Pop, esports and the creator space, but Tappytoon’s recent partnership with them highlights the growing global popularity of webcomics.
Tappytoon isn’t the first webcomics platform to launch a merch shop. Most recently, WEBTOON opened up their merch shop which includes apparel, accessories and books. WEBTOON currently features a select number of series, including popular titles like All of Us Are Dead, Sweet Home, The God of High School, True Beauty, Lore Olympus, Castle Swimmer and Eaternal Nocturnal. Tapas launched merch storefronts for select creators, offering clothing, tote bags, and more. Lezhin launched J-MEESHOP, featuring a wide range of merch like plush sets, acrylic stands, stationery, photo cards, posters, clothing and Korean-language physical webcomic editions.
Source: B.stage
