[넘버스]The fourth tab in KakaoTalk, meaning

| If you update to KakaoTalk v9.2.5 or higher, it will be applied sequentially.

To KakaoTalk Fourth tabHas appeared. ‘Kakao Shopping’, a collection of Kakao Commerce services, is located next to the #(Shop) tab at the bottom of KakaoTalk. It was made to be able to access gifts, makers, shopping, and Kakao Shopping Live, which were scattered in the’More’ tab on the far right, in one place. It is a strategy to increase user accessibility by combining spaces. It looks like Kakao is starting to’grow commerce’ in earnest.

Kakao wants to grow shopping

Kakao’s’national messenger’ Kakao is a competitive advantage. Our business is also focusing on KakaoTalk, and we are putting together areas that can be organically combined. The same goes for commerce. Let’s look at the growth. last year Kakao Commerce The total amount of transactions has increased by 64%. Gift making and makers grew 52% and 60%, respectively, showing strong growth, while Talkstore achieved the highest growth rate in the entire commerce market with a whopping 292%’storm growth’. Kakao Shopping Live’s transaction volume in the fourth quarter of last year increased by nearly four times compared to the previous quarter, and the average number of views was 140,000. Users are also well gathered. As of December 2020, the number of monthly active users (MAU) by platform has been increasing steadily to 21.73 million for gifting, 13 million for Talkstore, and 6 million for makers.

At first glance, the number feels big, but all Kakao has revealed is the number of users and its growth rate. It does not reveal anything that can confirm the reality of the business, such as sales. In the industry, the annual transaction volume in the commerce sector is estimated at a maximum of 5 trillion won. Compared to Coupang (22 trillion won) and Naver Smart Store (15 trillion won) ‘Gentle’ levelis.

Still, Kakao sees the possibility in terms of the number of users. In a conference call (telephone conference) for Kakao’s 4Q 2020 earnings presentation held last month, Kakao Co-CEO Min-soo Yeo said, “We have already secured a large number of users (in commerce).” The repurchase rate and the formation of a wide customer price are important, but Kakao Shopping said that Kakao Shopping has already produced encouraging results in each area.

He also gave an optimistic interpretation. It emphasized the’potential’ of holding KakaoTalk in the e-commerce market and doing commerce. Bae Jae-hyun, vice president of Kakao, said, “Kakao is the first app people use every morning.” “Kakao Commerce is unique in that Kakao Commerce can deliver product information to a large number of people the fastest. “Although (Kakao) is a latecomer in the e-commerce market, the online penetration rate in the domestic distribution market is still less than 50%, and the remaining 50% market size is still significant.” I think I can take it.”

The potential of the market is great, and once you have determined that the number of users is on a growth trajectory, the time has come to empower commerce. And if commerce is well established, it can create synergy with existing businesses, including advertising and finance (pay), and in the long term, IP (intellectual property rights). This is the background that Kakao newly created the fourth tab of KakaoTalk. According to the press release released by Kakao, it is expected that the service will be operated with an emphasis on personalized recommendations that reflect the individual’s shopping experience and taste by analyzing user usage behavior.

Kakao is also ambitious to grow its business. According to the investment banking (IB) industry, Kakao is planning to enter the preliminary bidding for the sale of eBay Korea, which operates Gmarket, Auction, and G9 in mid-month. It is also known that Kakao first expressed its intention to take over when eBay Korea was on sale in the second half of last year. When Kakao acquires eBay Korea, the annual transaction amount will grow rapidly to 25 trillion won.

The blueprint is like this, but just as KakaoTalk’s # (shop) tab did not have a strong presence until Corona, there is a possibility that the growth rate of the lower fourth digit will not meet expectations. Although it has a competitive advantage in user accessibility, not all stores are good for a good position. First, we have to watch the users’ choices.