Live Streaming by SMEs on Home Shopping

Expanding Programming and Differentiating Products... Expanding Sales Channels for Small Business Owners

Specialized home shopping channels for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are putting their efforts into 'live commerce.' Recently, the number of consumers accessing SME home shopping through mobile live commerce rather than TV has significantly increased. Each company’s strategy is to create differentiated live commerce content to support the expansion of sales channels for SMEs and small business owners.

According to Home&Shopping on the 22nd, the live commerce service 'PangLIVE,' officially launched last year, surpassed 800,000 cumulative views as of the end of last month this year. In April, it even recorded a 'big hit' with over 250,000 views in just one hour of broadcasting. The transaction amount also reportedly increased by an average of 57% monthly, reaching about 2 billion KRW as of last month.

This achievement is attributed to Home&Shopping’s efforts to strengthen live commerce competitiveness by increasing the scheduling of 'PangLIVE' and specially appointing a team leader in their early 30s, who maintains a youthful sensibility, through an internal contest. Currently, Home&Shopping operates by expanding the schedule from five times a week to 20 times a week. They continuously reinforce content, including broadcasting live commerce four times a day.

Public Shopping has also recently supported sales channels for small-packaged products through its live commerce 'Gongyoung Labang.' They are presenting a variety of differentiated products tailored to mobile commerce, moving away from the TV home shopping product lineup focused on mass sales of small items. To support live commerce, Public Shopping established a related department in June last year and built a stable system for overall mobile broadcasting technology. Additionally, they provide a dedicated transmission app for partner companies, aiming for an open platform where any registered partner can easily shoot, broadcast, and sell directly through this app.

The reason SME home shopping companies are focusing on strengthening live commerce competitiveness is that, compared to TV home shopping, there are fewer broadcasting conditions and cost constraints, allowing smaller SMEs to participate more easily. The commission fees are also lower than those of TV home shopping. For Home&Shopping, the commission rate for live commerce is in the 10% range. This is why about 90% of live commerce sellers in SME home shopping are SMEs and small business owners.

From a content perspective, various attempts are possible. Real-time communication with customers is feasible, and products that could not be seen on TV home shopping, targeting individuals or small households rather than mass sales, can be introduced. Accordingly, SME home shopping channels expect to attract not only their main customers?housewives in their 40s and 50s?but also the MZ generation (born from the early 1980s to early 2000s) in their 20s and 30s. This is a two-track strategy to prevent the loss of the main customer base while actively appealing to the MZ generation unfamiliar with TV home shopping. An industry insider said, "Live commerce is being recognized as playing a significant role in expanding new sales channels for SMEs," adding, "SME home shopping companies will continue to focus on strengthening live commerce competitiveness."