"Investing in Art Is Not Difficult"... Easy Purchase on Home Shopping

Lotte Home Shopping to Sell 13 Works This Year
Viewers Exceed 2,000 for Artist Iwaljong's Broadcast
Gallery and Artist Inquiries Flood In

Works from the Jungdo series of artist Lee Wal-jong and his life in Jeju. (Photo by Lotte Home Shopping)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Amid the recent craze for ‘Art Tech (Art + Investment)’, the home shopping industry is moving to secure a leading position in the art sales market. Artists or professional curators appear on broadcasts to provide detailed explanations of the artworks, receiving positive responses from consumers.

On the 31st, Lotte Home Shopping conducted broadcasts selling works by about 20 artists over a total of 13 sessions this year. Each session recorded a complete sell-out, leading to an expansion from one broadcast per month to two. On the 27th, they showcased works by artist Lee Wal-jong, famous for the Jeju Life’s Middle Road series, on the mobile TV channel L Live. The broadcast featured Lee’s new works and attracted over 2,000 viewers. Next month, a special exhibition of overseas artists, including original lithographs by 20th-century masters such as Picasso and Andy Warhol, is planned.

The fastest sell-out in history was recorded by artist Kim Ji-hee’s work. In May, she sold the Shield Smile series, depicting a girl wearing glasses and braces smiling, with all 12 pieces sold within one minute of the broadcast start. Even the high-priced products in the 9 million KRW range sold out immediately upon opening, and half of the customers who purchased these works were from the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z).

Lotte Home Shopping established a Culture Business Team at the end of last year, focusing on discovering content from famous and emerging artists and exclusively planning cultural content. At the time of its establishment, artists found selling works through home shopping unfamiliar and the recognition was low. However, with the influx of numerous customers and complete sell-outs of artworks spreading by word of mouth, artists now perceive selling works through home shopping as a new sales channel. Recently, inquiries from artists for entry, as well as from galleries, have been flooding in.

GS Shop also conducted broadcasts selling artworks by Van Gogh, Renoir, and others last month, achieving record-breaking order results. CJ OnStyle partnered with Gallery K and LG Electronics in February to broadcast an art and home appliance rental package. The package allowed customers to choose one artwork and one LG Style appliance, and the approximately 55-minute broadcast generated orders approaching 5 billion KRW.

A Lotte Home Shopping official said, “Based on successful collaboration experiences with domestic artists, we will expand the scope to works by famous overseas artists,” adding, “We plan to promote artists’ works on mobile and online platforms and support diverse sales channels for the culture business.”