Joseon Beauty VS Witch Factory... 'Exclusive Competition' Ignites on Home Shopping

Effective for Single Product Sales and Customer Acquisition
Strengthening Single Product Discovery Capabilities through Organizational Restructuring

Home shopping companies are putting great effort into launching exclusive products. This is a self-help measure taken after experiencing a sharp decline in performance last year. The strategy is to enhance product competitiveness in order to increase viewers (visitors) on TV home shopping channels and mobile applications (apps).

According to the home shopping industry on the 16th, Lotte Home Shopping's 'Chosun Beauty' 'Clear Rice Sunscreen,' which was broadcast on the TV channel on the 12th, sold all 4,000 sets prepared within 25 minutes. This product had about three times the number of orders per minute compared to other sunscreen products sold by Lotte Home Shopping this month.

Despite being broadcast at 8 a.m. on a weekday, it set a record for rapid sell-out. Chosun Beauty is a brand whose rice-based sunscreen product gained great popularity on social networking services (SNS) such as TikTok and sold 10 million units only in overseas markets. The product sold that day was the first product introduced by Lotte Home Shopping in the industry.

Earlier, GS Home Shopping also exclusively sold the cosmetics brand 'Manyeogongjang,' which gained popularity among the 20s and 30s age group. The new product 'Galactomy Melacore Essence (50ml),' introduced twice on GS Home Shopping's TV channel on the 15th and 24th of last month, grew to 160% and 110% of the average sales during the same time slot, respectively.

The biggest topic in the home shopping industry recently is exclusive products. Since broadcasting similar products as competitors’ channels every time viewers change channels cannot capture consumers' attention, the strategy is to discover 'hit products' and enhance product competitiveness. In particular, the focus is on targeting the 20s and 30s generation rather than the main TV viewing demographic. The strategy is to expand the customer base by exclusively introducing brands preferred by these younger consumers. As TV viewership declines and performance drops sharply, home shopping companies are recently increasing sales channels through mobile apps and YouTube, which are frequently used by younger generations.

The home shopping industry has also undergone organizational restructuring to strengthen exclusive product competitiveness. GS Home Shopping established development teams by business division on the 1st of this month. Under the fashion business division, there is a 'Fashion Development Team,' and under the living business division and H&B business division, there are 'Living Development Team' and 'H&B Development Team,' respectively. Last year, they strengthened product sourcing by establishing the 'Brand Development Part' and 'Living Development Part,' and this year, they elevated these to teams within each business division to quickly secure product competitiveness. A GS Home Shopping official said, "We first assigned employees with about 10 years of experience who have a high understanding of TV home shopping and mobile and are recognized for their sourcing capabilities within the business divisions," adding, "This is to strengthen exclusive product sourcing."

Lotte Home Shopping also expanded the product R&D office established last year into the 'Product Development Division' and newly created the Niche Market Sourcing Team. The team consists of one team leader and seven members, gathering employees from the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) to those with long experience in one team. Without limiting categories for each team member, the focus is on introducing new products not seen in other home shopping channels, such as specialty products, hobbies, pets, and food.

CJ OnStyle has been operating the 'FAST Sourcing Team' since June last year. The purpose is to quickly discover new brands not introduced to the industry. It is characterized by six MDs who have worked for more than 10 years in the food, fashion, and living sectors. After gauging consumer reactions through the mobile live broadcast 'New Face,' they expand product sales to TV channels.

Hyundai Home Shopping recently established new teams such as the Fashion Lab, Beauty Brand Team, and Kitchen Living and other Life Brand Teams. These teams aim to discover private brand (PB) products and licensed brand (LB) products. PB and LB products have the advantage of being sold exclusively through home shopping, and compared to general manufacturer brand (NB) products, they offer higher margins, effectively improving profitability. A home shopping industry official said, "As home shopping companies faced difficulties last year, they are leading their businesses with strategies to attract more customers," adding, "To gather product competitiveness, personnel transfers are also being made to reassign MDs to areas where they have strengths."