E-commerce latecomers try to differentiate themselves through specialized business models

As the dominance of the top three players in South Korea's e-commerce market - Naver Corp., Coupang Inc. and SSG.com - continues to consolidate, latecomers are adopting fierce differentiation and transformation strategies, according to Korean media reports .

It is understood that Wemakeprice Inc. is a local open market operator in South Korea and one of the largest e-commerce companies in South Korea. It takes the fashion-conscious post-80s and post-90s consumers as its main target, finds trustworthy merchants for consumers, and allows consumers to enjoy high-quality services with ultra-low discounts. On January 3, a special button connecting to SSG.com was added to the home screen of its application.

By the first quarter of this year, Wemakeprice intends to display links to sellers’ official websites and place them in its search results. The main factor behind the company’s latest move is that it is trying to transform itself into an e-commerce search engine.

Wemakeprice hopes to become an e-commerce search engine that people will visit to search for Internet shopping information just as they search for general information through Google or Naver.

Online shopping mall 11st is transforming itself into a shopping social commerce business. It is offering video reviews of customers in a format similar to Instagram. Data shows that more than 20,000 video reviews featuring customers’ faces and voices are uploaded every day.

11st is also focusing on cultivating "shopping influencers." Last week, it launched a "tipkok" service that allows customers to share their shopping recommendations in the form of text and video.

In addition to this, TMON, which is already known for selling special discounted goods during certain time periods , is turning itself into a marketing company. After finding companies and agricultural producers to join its platform, TMON is acting as a PR agency to promote their products.

Competition in the e-commerce arena is becoming increasingly fierce. How to stand out from the numerous platforms and attract the attention of platform residents and consumers is an issue that major e-commerce platforms urgently need to consider.

South Korea

E-commerce market