Naver to Launch "Shopping AI Agent" Next Month...Targeting Coupang's Market Gap

New Naver Plus App Installs Near 1 Million Last Month

Choi Sooyeon, CEO of Naver, is speaking at the DAN25 conference at the COEX Grand Ballroom in Gangnam District, Seoul, on November 6 last year. Yonhap News

Naver is set to launch its full-scale "shopping artificial intelligence (AI) agent" service as it moves to capture the market with personalized shopping. While Coupang has lost momentum in the wake of a data leak incident, Naver is betting on a shopping platform powered by AI.

On February 4, Naver said it is in the final stages of preparation to launch its shopping AI agent next month. The service was originally scheduled to be released last year, but the launch was pushed back to the first quarter of this year after the company decided to redesign it as an integrated agent. A Naver representative said, "We are accelerating the transition to AI commerce," adding, "We are testing the service with the goal of launching the shopping AI agent in the first quarter and are continuing to advance its features."

By using the shopping AI agent, users will be able to enjoy personalized shopping. For example, if a user asks, "Recommend cosmetics that suit my skin," the AI agent will identify the user's skin type and characteristics based on purchase data and search history, and then recommend products from the brands the user prefers. The AI, which understands the user's search intent and shopping context, will provide support across the entire process from product recommendation to purchase by comprehensively analyzing the user's preferences, budget, search history, and review data.

While Coupang's user numbers have stagnated following a recent large-scale data leak, Naver has been rapidly targeting niche markets by enhancing membership benefits through various partnerships. According to Mobile Index by IGAWorks, the number of installations of the Naver Plus Store app last month reached 935,507, an increase of more than 147,000 from the previous month, approaching the 1 million mark. This is the highest monthly figure since June last year.

Naver has been pursuing a win-win strategy by forming partnerships with companies such as Netflix, Spotify, and Kurly to expand its user base. WiseApp Retail said that in a survey of revisit rates for music streaming apps in December last year, Spotify ranked first with a revisit rate of 82.3%, with its month-on-month increase in revisit rate reaching 14.6 percentage points. This is believed to be due to the addition of the Spotify membership "Spotify Premium Basic" to the digital content benefits of the Naver Plus Membership starting in November last year.

A Naver representative said, "After partnering with Kurly to strengthen our fresh food offerings, the January transaction volume of Kurly N Mart increased by about 57% compared to December last year," adding, "This year as well, we plan to further enhance benefits for Naver Plus Membership users through a wide range of partnerships."