Company officials say foreign consumers show keen interest in Korean-made products
Local home shopping channels, are competing to gain an early edge in overseas markets, especially in Asia where the popularity of Korean pop culture is still going strong.
In Vietnam, the nation’s top three players ― CJ O Shopping, Lotte Home Shopping and GS Shop ― have jumped into the race to dominate one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world.
CJ O Shopping, affiliated with food and entertainment giant CJ Group, entered the market first in July by establishing SCJ TV, a joint venture with the Vietnamese No. 1 cable TV operator SCTV.
Of the products introduced by the channel, some 15 percent are those from Korean small and medium-sized companies that have also attracted positive reviews among Korean consumers.
“Vietnamese consumers have a keen interest in Korea-made products. Korean employees sometimes appear during the show to explain the products in order to emphasize the Korean origin and gain their trust,” said a CJ spokesperson.
According to industry watchers, SCJ saw 5 billion won in volume handled last year, about 15 percent of the total Vietnamese TV home shopping market of 35 billion won. CJ could earn 12.5 billion won in advertisement sales this year, sources predict.
Lotte Home Shopping, another major channel, started broadcasting from Feb. 10 in major Vietnamese cities via Lotte Datviet, a joint venture established with Datviet, a Vietnamese media group.
GS Shop also announced its entry into the Vietnamese market recently, after it signed an agreement to invest $3.5 million into Vivi Home Shopping, a local TV channel.
GS Shop is leading other Korean channels when it comes to the Thai and Indian markets.
It was the first to enter the Indian market in 2009, with its Home Shop 18 logging 130 billion won in sales last year.
In May, GS Shop established TrueGS, a home shopping company with funding from companies including Thailand’s leading satellite TV operator TrueVision and retail giant The Mall Group, in May.
Industry watchers say local home shopping channels would continue to grow as the offline retail business is expected to struggle with opening new locations due to recently toughened regulations.
Based on the strong performance in Korea, they will step up efforts to enter overseas markets for business expansion, said Yu Ju-yeon, an analyst at Meritz Securities.
She explained in a recent report that emerging Asian markets have more economically-active workers in their 30s and their credit card usage is fast spreading.
“Together with the development in broadcasting and logistics infrastructures, the home shopping market in the region has full growth potential as young consumers would prefer reasonable and convenient purchases,” Yu said.
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
