Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin is announcing the New Year’s address through an online video on the 4th. News 1
Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Manager (GIO). Hankook Ilbo data photo
Naver, a’dinosaur’ in the domestic online platform and distribution industry, and the heads of Shinsegae Group faced heads over the online commerce market.
According to the distribution industry on the 28th, Jung Yong-jin, vice chairman of Shinsegae Group, visited Naver headquarters in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, and met Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Manager (GIO). The two are known to have discussed cooperation plans. E-Mart CEO Kang Hee-seok was present.
In the industry, it is observed that if the two companies create synergies through collaboration, a perception change may occur in the rapidly changing domestic online shopping market. As of 2019, Naver recorded a transaction amount of 20 trillion won, keeping the top spot in the online shopping market. As of the third quarter of last year, the number of sellers who entered Naver Smart Store exceeded 380,000. However, although it has a simple payment method called Naver Pay, it is at an early stage to be relieved in the rapidly changing online commerce market. This is because it does not directly source products like Shinsegae.
While Shinsegae Group has a solid offline channel worth about 40 trillion won (as of 2019), it is an unavoidable latecomer in the online commerce market. Although Shinsegae Group is focusing its efforts on SSG.com, it is not enough to catch up with Naver or Coupang. For this reason, when Shinsegae Group collaborates with Naver, it will be able to share a strong online and offline distribution network as well as about 380,000 Naver Smart Store merchants.
The two companies are still cautious about how to cooperate. A Naver official said, “It is true that vice-chairman Jeong went,” but said, “It is difficult to say what kind of discussion was discussed.” An official from Shinsegae also explained, “It is not that we are going to do any kind of business right away,” and “I know that we have had a comprehensive discussion on whether there are areas where distribution and online commerce can create synergies together.”
In October last year, Naver formed a cooperative relationship with CJ Logistics, the number one logistics company, through stock exchange. Recently, various attempts have been made to expand distribution channels, such as jointly promoting the online/offline connection (O2O) platform business with BGF Retail, which operates a convenience store CU.
An official in the online shopping industry said, “The two companies will be tapping hard on the calculator. It seems difficult to come up with a detailed outline yet.”
Bakjiyeon reporter [email protected]
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