Strengthening Travel Agency Live Commerce
HanaLIVE, 3 Years Since Launch... 30 Million Views
Modetour's 'LiveM' Sends 120 Million Visitors
NorangPungseon Introduces 'YellowLIVE'
The travel industry, which suffered from the large-scale unsettled payment crisis of Qoo10-affiliated TMON and WEMAKEPRICE (Timep), is strengthening live commerce. This is to expand product sales channels and increase contact points with consumers.
According to the industry on the 4th, Hanatour's own live commerce channel 'HanaLIVE' surpassed 30 million cumulative views by last month, marking its third year since launch. Cumulative sales have also been growing more than double every year. HanaLIVE is a live commerce channel first attempted by Hanatour, a comprehensive travel agency, in 2021. The broadcasts, initially held once a week at launch, have been expanded to more than three times a week considering consumer response. The Kota Kinabalu package tour introduced on the 14th and 21st of last month on this channel featured a cost-effective special priced product in the 100,000 KRW range, offering exclusive restaurants and lounges, and recorded the shortest closing time in live commerce history, with some dates sold out within three minutes of the live start. The actual number of reservations reached 642, achieving the third highest customer attraction rate in history.
Modetour also operates its own planned live commerce 'LiveM' since 2022. It introduces new travel destination products four times a month, once a week. As of the first half of this year, it surpassed 6 million cumulative viewers, achieved sales of 8.5 billion KRW, and sent 12 million customers, showing growth. The company is also expanding promotions targeting members to strengthen competitiveness on its website and application (app).
Kyowon Tour Travel Easy owns its own live commerce channel 'EasyLive.' Launched in November last year, this channel surpassed 4 million cumulative views within a year. The broadcasts, previously held once a month, were expanded to twice a month starting April. According to Travel Easy, the average views per broadcast from January to September this year increased by 80% compared to the previous year, and the average transaction amount per broadcast also rose by 84%. The company explained that there is high interest in air+hotel (airtel) products for Japan, where independent travelers are a large portion, as well as family travel products for Guam, Bali, and Saipan.
The travel industry is expanding the proportion of live commerce to reduce e-commerce risks exposed by the Timep incident and to increase sales channels. Dedicated departments operating the channels are run separately, or existing staff are encouraged to focus on the relevant part. An industry insider said, "When selling travel products on home shopping and other platforms, it costs tens of millions of KRW per broadcast on popular channels, but using own live commerce channels allows introducing various products at relatively low cost," adding, "Points can be provided linked to the company website and app for viewers or bookers, or additional discounts on products can be offered."
Direct sales specialized travel agency Norangpungseon also introduced a pilot service of the shopping live broadcast 'YellowLIVE' in September. This is to expand communication with customers and strengthen brand awareness. A Norangpungseon official said, "Through the pilot service of shopping live broadcasts, we plan to continuously present customized services reflecting customer demands."
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