[Desk Column] Consumer Tech and e-Commerce

[Asia Economy Reporter Myung Jin-gyu] "Please create a new ID under your family name and receive the first purchase coupon that can be used multiple times along with the special discount coupon for Family Month. If you add the 3% billing discount from Hyundai or Shinhan Card, the final price can be purchased at a 23% discounted rate. Attaching a verification shot."

Since MZ (Millennials + Generation Z) have become the main players, internet communities have been continuously sharing tips on how to 'shop smartly and well.' From how to make good cards, how to effectively use social commerce platforms like Coupang and Ticket Monster, to combining various discount benefits from e-commerce companies such as Auction, 11st, SSG.com, and Lotte ON, methods to create the lowest of the lowest prices are being created and shared daily.

When discount coupons that were occasionally applied to high-priced IT devices or furniture are found to be applicable to other products, the internet literally goes wild. Everyone rushes to purchase due to unexpectedly high discounts, and items quickly sell out. This is one aspect of the consumer tech that MZ generations are enthusiastic about. After the frenzy of buying ends, confessions and testimonies like "I didn't need it but bought it because it was cheap" follow. In the comments below, posts like "Missed the big sale bus, anyone willing to transfer?" appear continuously, and on secondhand e-commerce services including Danggeun Market, unopened products are resold.

In the past, stress accumulated over a month was relieved by heading to department stores on payday to consume, but now it has changed into a pastime of browsing products on online shopping malls several times a day, applying discount coupons, and creating the lowest prices. The former is typical of the 40s and 50s generation, while the latter is the consumption behavior of the MZ generation.

As consumption has become a form of play culture, the visible lowest price has become meaningless. This is one reason why offline retailers’ constant lowest price competition leaves consumers indifferent. Rather than simply pressing the purchase button to buy products at the lowest price, consumers feel more accomplishment and fun in the process of finding and creating their own lowest price through various devices such as coupons and card billing discounts.

Moreover, major e-commerce companies have recently been accepting returns without question. The message is to buy the items that catch your eye without hesitation and return them if you don’t like them. Since the pleasure felt during impulse purchases is greater than the loss felt when returning items, the number of people purchasing from e-commerce continues to increase.

The world’s largest e-commerce company Amazon recorded sales of 120 trillion won (approximately 108.5 billion dollars) in the first quarter of this year. Compared to the same period last year, when the e-commerce market sharply rose due to COVID-19, sales increased by 44%. Net profit for the same period was 8.9 trillion won (approximately 8.1 billion dollars), more than tripling compared to the previous year.

The earnings surprise of Amazon in the first quarter clearly indicates that the world began to change faster due to COVID-19, and the world has already changed within a year. The non-face-to-face (untact) trend was not temporary. Amazon has proven through its performance that the pre-COVID-19 world will not return. The domestic distribution industry is facing the same situation. Although synergy between online and offline and efficiency enhancement are emphasized, that alone is not enough. If the industry does not consider how to restore the joy of consumption, it will inevitably fall behind.