Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon: "Next-Generation Commerce is Community-Based Commerce" (Comprehensive Report 2)

Acquisition of Poshmark Combining Social + Commerce
Synergy with Content Business...Discovering New Business Models

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] Naver is targeting the next-generation commerce market by acquiring Poshmark, the largest secondhand fashion platform in North America. The company explained that it aims to discover new distribution business models through a platform that combines community and commerce.

On the 4th, after announcing the acquisition of Poshmark, Naver CEO Su-yeon Choi held a press conference and stated, "We judged it to be a new form of commerce that develops based on communication and community activities between individuals," adding, "We will establish a new retail model called community commerce."

Poshmark, acquired by Naver for 2.3 trillion KRW, is characterized by a business model that combines community, social, and commerce. Users can post or follow feeds on a regional basis, and explore items that match their tastes by viewing feeds from influencers they follow. The app also hosts virtual shopping events through its live feature.

Because it is community-based, user loyalty and purchase conversion rates are high. Users naturally communicate by sharing their wardrobes and posting styles, creating a virtuous cycle of selling and buying. While on Naver’s existing platform, users with purchase intent connected to buying through search or price comparison, community commerce leads to purchase desire through sharing and communicating interests.

Naver plans to adopt community commerce as a new format for its commerce business. It can evolve in various forms, such as influencers selling items on behalf of other users or multiple sellers hosting live shows together. By combining the latest consumer trends with Naver’s IT technology, the company is confident it will become a service favored by the MZ (Millennial + Z) generation. To this end, Naver plans to integrate its own technologies such as search, artificial intelligence (AI) recommendation, vision technology, and live commerce technology into the Poshmark service.

They also revealed a blueprint to offer Poshmark services in Asia or link it with Naver’s other shopping platforms. Naver currently operates the resale platform 'Cream' domestically and the vintage-specialized platform 'Vintage City' in Japan. In Europe, through 'Corelia Capital K-Fund 1,' it has invested in the luxury resale platform 'Vestiaire Collective.'

CEO Choi emphasized, "Poshmark can use Naver as a foothold to enter the Asian market," and added, "If a completed consumer-to-consumer (C2C) model emerges through Poshmark in North America, it can be applied to other services to increase scale and synergy."

They also plan to seek synergy between content businesses such as webtoons and web novels and commerce businesses. Services linked with the metaverse platform 'Zepeto,' targeting the global MZ generation, the North American No.1 web novel platform 'Wattpad,' and the fandom platform 'Weverse,' jointly operated with HYBE, are planned.

CEO Choi said, "Fashion of K-pop stars is popular on Poshmark, and we could link this with Weverse or hold region-based community gatherings on Zepeto," adding, "Conversely, we will present various plans such as selling webtoon goods on Poshmark."