[Click eStock] "Naver, This Year Begins Solidifying New Shopping App"

Revenue Growth Expected Through New Commission Policy and AI Advancement
Strengthening Customer Engagement Alongside Netflix Partnership

Naver is set to make a full-scale change by launching a separate shopping application (app) on the 12th. Analysts say it is a time when the company must invest the increased revenue from the new commission policy to ensure customers become deeply engaged with the new service.

On the 6th, Meritz Securities diagnosed the situation this way and maintained a 'Buy' rating on Naver with a target price of 300,000 KRW. The closing price the previous day was 207,500 KRW.

Naver will launch an AI-based separate shopping app called 'Naver Plus Store' on the 12th. The key change is a 1% increase in commission fees for non-brand stores within Smart Store. The most direct cost is the AI-related cloud usage fee. Once the commission is applied from June, it is expected that about 135 billion KRW in revenue will be affected in the second half of the year. Next year, the overall consolidated revenue growth rate is expected to increase by 1 percentage point.

Meritz Securities expects Naver to pour the revenue generated from the new service into marketing. Through this, the company aims to attract general consumers and sellers to the platform and prevent them from leaving, thereby solidifying its position. Since the market has already been reorganized around top operators following the 'Timf' incident, and the Smart Store growth rate has risen to double digits, this investment is considered sufficiently necessary.

Meritz also views the activation platform for the arrival guarantee service, which Naver is preparing to shorten delivery time differences, as a positive factor. This is expected to increase consumer satisfaction and accelerate transaction growth. Researcher Lee Hyo-jin of Meritz Securities explained, "AI advancement is converted into revenue more actively in e-commerce than in search platforms. Since November last year, a large number of core working population consumers have been attracted through the Netflix partnership membership, and considering their high commerce conversion rate, Naver's e-commerce segment growth this year remains promising."