[News Terms] Shopping Finished in 1 Minute: 'Shotping'

Boom in Short-form Content Production Across Domestic Industries
Time Efficiency, Intuitiveness, and Easy Purchasing Highlighted
Maximum Length of 15 Minutes Essential to Target Generation Z

'Short-pping' is a compound word of short-form and shopping, referring to online shopping where products are purchased while watching short-form content, which are videos with short playback times.

As the usage rate and popularity of short-form content continue to rise, large distribution companies such as home shopping and e-commerce, as well as small shopping malls, have all jumped into producing short-form content. They are planning their own short-form channels or collaborating with creators who specialize in short-form content.

In fact, the usage time of short-form content in Korea is steadily increasing. According to a December 2023 survey by Korea Research, three out of four people in the nation watched short-form content. The viewing age range is diverse, with about 60% of those aged 60 and above watching short-form content. Since respondents most agreed with the statement "The video length is short, so it is less burdensome" (83%), short-form content has excellent time efficiency (performance relative to time).

When thinking of short-form, it is easy to imagine content with a playback time of around one minute. However, in the case of web dramas branded as short-form, the playback time can extend up to 20 minutes. However, research shows that to target Generation Z, the video length should not exceed 15 minutes. According to the digital advertising company Mezzomedia's '2020 Short-form Content Trends,' the preferred video length was 15.5 minutes for teenagers and 15 minutes for people in their 20s.

Implementing the appearance of shopping through short-form content [Photo by AI Image]

The intuitiveness of short-form content is another reason it is gaining attention as a shopping channel. It is effective in quickly conveying product characteristics and increasing brand awareness. A 2020 academic paper by the Korea Design Research Society titled 'The Impact of Experiential Characteristics of Short-form Videos on Brand Awareness' analyzed that brand experience through short-form videos positively affects brand recognition and recall.

Brand recognition refers to the primary level of consumer awareness of a brand. For example, answering "yes" or "no" to the question "Do you know Starbucks?" Brand recall refers to how easily a consumer can bring a brand to mind. For example, answering "Starbucks" to the question "What brand comes to mind when you think of coffee?" The brand image remembered by consumers through brand recognition and recall is called 'brand awareness.'

Another advantage of short-form content is the simple purchasing method. By clicking the link at the bottom of the short-form video, payment can be made through the connected external shopping mall. Short-form content lowers the barrier to video consumption, naturally increasing the potential consumer's dwell time. According to data from the U.S. market research firm Data.ai, the average daily dwell time of Amazon users, a U.S. online shopping platform, is 9.7 minutes, whereas TikTok's is two hours. This is interpreted to mean that people on Amazon buy only what they intend to and then leave.