Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin (center) is coming to Naver headquarters to meet Naver GIO Lee Hae-jin on the 28th. Naver CEO Han Seong-suk (left) comes and guides Vice Chairman Jeong. Reporter Chu In-young
Naver and Shinsegae Group join hands. Considering the fact that the two companies have been competing for the online shopping market, it can be said to be a’sleep with the enemy’. On the 28th, vice chairman of Shinsegae Group, Jeong Yong-jin, met with Lee Hae-jin, Naver Global Investment Manager (GIO) at Naver headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, to discuss specific cooperation plans. Kang Hee-seok, CEO of E-Mart, and others were present at this event.
Shinsegae and Naver launch online collaboration
Vice-Chairman Jeong visits Naver headquarters
Discussion of cooperation such as stock exchange and strategic alliance
Crust fluctuations across the online shopping market
A business official said, “(Naver) decided to establish a solid relationship with Shinsegae and cooperate in the online shopping market, whether in a similar way to CJ Logistics’ stock exchange or strategic alliance.” Naver joined hands with CJ Logistics, the number one logistics company, in October last year through a stock exchange.
Lee Haejin
The domestic online shopping market is changing rapidly. The market size, which was estimated at 135 trillion won in 2019, is expected to exceed 150 trillion won last year. Naver is currently the No. 1 player in the online shopping market. Naver is showing steady results by expanding its smart store, an open market of’C2C’ (consumer-to-consumer transactions). As of the end of September last year, the number of sellers (merchandisers) in smart stores exceeded 380,000. Naver Pay, a simple payment service, is also a powerful weapon. However, Naver’s ability to directly procure products like Lotte and Shinsegae is poor. As of 2019, the trading volume of Shinsegae Group exceeded 40 trillion won, according to the distribution industry. It’s twice that of Naver.
Transactions of major e-commerce companies. Graphic = Reporter Kim Young-ok [email protected]
Naver recently entered into a business alliance with BGF Retail, which operates CU, the number one convenience store industry, to jointly promote a platform business that connects online and offline. Coupang is promoting IPO and stock market listing within this year. When the listing is successful, Coupang is expected to conduct aggressive marketing to expand its market share based on its financial power. It is also a burden for Naver that 11st, affiliated with SK Group, which ranks third in the business world, has partnered with Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company.
Shinsegae Group is focusing its capabilities on SSG.com, but it is still not enough to catch up with Naver or Coupang. SSG.com’s last year’s transaction amount is estimated to be a little over 4 trillion won. When Naver and Shinsegae’s online and offline sales channels are tied together, it becomes even stronger.
If the Naver and Shinsegae Group alliance emerges in the forefront of the distribution market, Lotte Group may also be in a position to join hands with other companies. At Lotte, Chairman Shin Dong-bin has stepped up, but has not yet achieved such results in the online shopping market.
Seongnam = Reporter Lee Soo-ki and Chu In-young [email protected]