NAVER and Kakao have been accelerating the rollout of commerce-focused AI agents since the beginning of this year. The aim is to turn shopping from a process in which users type product names into a search bar and separately look up prices and reviews into one centered on conversational recommendations, comparisons, and purchases. Unlike consumers in many other countries, Korean shoppers spend more time on search, price comparisons, and review verification. The companies appear to believe that if AI can simplify that process, they can gain greater control over purchase decisions.
/ Image generated by Gemini
According to industry sources, NAVER launched the “Shopping AI Agent Beta” service on the NAVER Plus Store app on Feb. 26.
Kakao moved earlier. In January, it applied AI to the ranking tab and detail pages of KakaoTalk Gift. Then, on March 17, it launched its on-device AI service “Kanana in KakaoTalk.” During an earnings conference call on Feb. 12, Kakao CEO Chung Sin-a said, “Among Kanana’s various scenarios, commerce accounted for the largest share.”
The reason both of Korea’s two largest IT portal companies are focusing on commerce-centered AI agents lies in the characteristics of the Korean market.
A survey by global commerce advertising platform Criteo of 6,800 consumers across eight countries, including 1,000 Koreans, found that Korean consumers have higher expectations than their overseas counterparts for AI agents used in shopping. Some 69% of Korean respondents said AI agents would significantly reduce the time and cost involved in shopping. That was 11 percentage points higher than the global average of 58%.
The reason for that result is also clear. Korean consumers actually spend more time shopping. The share of consumers who use search engines for online shopping stood at 53% in Korea, higher than the global average of 40%.
The proportion of consumers who compare prices online before making a purchase was also higher in Korea, at 73%, compared with the global average of 63%. Even while shopping offline, 64% of Korean consumers said they check reviews and ratings on their phones, 15 percentage points above the global average of 49%.
Relative to global AI agents, the key advantage NAVER and Kakao appear to hold lies in reviews and ratings. Globally, consumers viewed the ability of AI agents to compare prices and inventory across multiple sellers as the most trustworthy feature, at 46%.
In contrast, Korean consumers placed greater importance on reviews and ratings from verified buyers, at 56%. NAVER and Kakao have an advantage over global big tech AI agents such as ChatGPT and Gemini in that they have built up their own vast reserves of reviews and ratings over many years.
The remarks of the two companies’ CEOs also point in that direction. At the annual shareholders meeting on March 23, NAVER CEO Choi Soo-yeon said, “We plan to apply AI agents across the shopping experience within this year,” adding, “Based on NAVER’s accumulated user-generated content and Smart Store operating know-how, we will focus on delivering a shopping experience that only NAVER can offer and that is optimized for the Korean e-commerce market.”
At Kakao’s annual shareholders meeting on March 26, Kakao CEO Jung Sin-a likewise said, “The Kanana model reads the context of user conversations and presents an AI agent suited to that context,” adding, “We will expand scenarios that connect to various areas, including commerce, and eventually be able to generate revenue from them.”
댓글
0