Live commerce in Korea is starting to take off as more and more people are comfortable with shopping online. Live commerce combines instant purchasing of a featured product and audience participation through a chat function or reaction buttons. It has been a huge success in China and is now seen as a reliable digital tool for boosting customer engagement and sales. This will clearly be the next wave of the E-Commerce revolution in South Korea. Live commerce has the potential to transform the retail industry and established itself as a major sales channel in Korea and major brands need to take notice.

The US has already continued the trend set by China. Walmart live-streamed shopping events on TikTok. Amazon released a live commerce platform where influencers can promote their products, as well as chat with fans. Instagram offers its own shop feature that offers users to buy directly through the app. While this form of shopping will never replace shopping in real life, live streaming E-commerce platforms are the next best thing for brands to engage with customers. Below are some platforms you can check out for live commerce in Korea.

Live Commerce in Korea

Grip

Ecommerce startup Grip uses live streaming to create a marketplace where sellers can live-stream videos to interact with online customers. It will focus on advancing its recommendation system for online customers to stimulate global expansion to target markets in Southeast Asia. Grip was able to raise $6.8 million for its Series B round. The investment came from Korea Investment Partners, Neoplux, and TBT. Moreover, Grip has become the first mobile-based live streaming commerce platform in South Korea.

“Live commerce is disrupting the traditional eCommerce industry and is blurring the line between marketing and distribution. Social influencers are facing the need to take on the new role as commerce influencers,” said the CEO of Grip, Kim Han-na

RXC

The founder of RXC was one of the founding members of TMON, one of Korea’s largest E-Commerce platforms. RXC is a curated shopping app focusing on live commerce in Korea and content marketing. It offers a direct-to-consumer platform for various brands and influencers in Korea. It will officially launch toward the end of 2022.