This image, provided by Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea’s dominant Internet portal, on Dec. 7, 2020, shows its live-streaming shopping platform, Shopping Live.
SEOUL, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — With live commerce, or TV home shopping-style mobile shopping, emerging as a major online shopping trend in the COVID-19 era, South Korea’s major retailers are scrambling to jump on the bandwagon.
Lee Sang-ho, CEO of online shopping platform 11st, said Thursday in the shareholder meeting of SK Telecom Co., the parent company of 11st, that the online portal would establish an open-type live commerce infrastructure in the second half of this year.
Local e-commerce giant Coupang Inc., which launched the live commerce service earlier this year, is already operating an open-type service enabling ordinary persons to sell products through live broadcasting once they complete a registration procedure.
TV Home shopping companies, which have a business model similar to live commerce, are also placing more emphasis on live commerce by using show hosts.
Online platform companies such as Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. are one step ahead of the retailers. They have already entered the live commerce market and are actively engaged in related services.
The primary factor behind the retail industry’s expansion of live commerce services is the bright outlook ahead. Since live commerce has become a central trend in online shopping, the related market is expected to grow at a blistering pace.
“The size of the live commerce market, which was estimated at about 3 trillion won (US$2.64 billion) last year, is expected to reach 9 trillion won in 2023.” said Oh Rin-a, an analyst at eBest Investment & Securities Co.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
