Tmon, Longest Customer Dwell Time Among E-commerce Platforms

Timon Ranks No.1 in Industry with Weekly Average Dwell Time of 29.85 Minutes

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Among e-commerce services, Tmon was found to have the longest user dwell time. Dwell time indicates how long customers use a particular channel and is directly linked to customer loyalty to the shopping mall.

According to Nielsen Korean Click data on the 22nd, in a comparison of average dwell times of e-commerce companies from January 4 to 10, the first week of January, Tmon recorded the industry’s highest weekly average dwell time for two consecutive weeks at 29.85 minutes. This is more than 2 minutes longer than the 27.5 minutes recorded in July 2019, two years ago. Competitor Coupang recorded 29.84 minutes, followed by Auction at 24.33 minutes and Gmarket at 23.32 minutes.

◆Industry Focuses on Increasing Customer Dwell Time=As consumption shifted online amid the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have been focusing on increasing customer dwell time. Gmarket recently revamped its mobile app entirely with the goal of personalized services and improved shopping convenience. 11st is promoting itself as a ‘commerce portal,’ striving to improve the shopping experience by providing not only shopping information but also product search and payment services. Hyundai Livart and Casamia are integrating consumer communities into their online shopping malls to activate engagement.

This movement reflects the growing importance of ‘loyal customers’ in a rapidly changing market environment. An industry insider explained, "As the environment where consumers can easily compare even a single product strengthens, ways to retain customers are becoming more important, requiring continuous differentiation."

◆Tmon’s ‘Time Commerce Strategy’ Proves Effective=Tmon’s success is attributed to its ‘time commerce’ strategy. This is Tmon’s unique differentiation strategy that goes beyond daily marketing to provide shopping experiences segmented by hour, minute, and even second. Tmon emphasizes price, the essence of shopping, by offering special-priced products every hour, which has increased both customer visit frequency and dwell time.

Promotions and memberships linked to time commerce are also playing an important role in strengthening customer metrics. Tmon’s ‘ARS Time,’ held every Wednesday at 2 p.m., attracted 1.74 million customer participations within one year of operation, recording an average of 8.7 participations per second. Additionally, ‘Lucky Time,’ which offers 100-won special deals every morning at 7 a.m., benefits an average of 100 people daily and over 3,000 people monthly. The premium membership ‘Super Save’ showed specialized benefits, with membership numbers increasing by 254% year-on-year as of December last year.

A Tmon representative said, "Based on time commerce, we continue various attempts to offer customers new benefits and expectations every hour," adding, "We will strive to provide a differentiated shopping experience that can only be enjoyed 24 hours a day on time commerce."