On June 21st, Gizcoupon reported that, as reported by Yonhap News Agency, YouTube will launch its first official shopping channel in South Korea on June 30th, Beijing time. It marks a new venture into live commerce. South Korea already boasts a thriving live commerce market led by tech giant Naver. This makes it an ideal testing ground for YouTube. It will be YouTube’s first official shopping channel introduced globally.
The new channel will primarily feature Korean language content. Additionally, according to YouTube, over 30 brands, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Bassrobin, Dunkin’ Donuts, Decorte, and Puma, will participate in live shopping broadcasts on the YouTube shopping channel. The project was initially planned to run for 90 days, but it may be extended.
YouTube’s ad revenue suffers from reduced spending by advertisers and competition from platforms such as TikTok. In February, Philipp Schindler, Chief Business Officer at Google, stated that “make it easier for people to shop from the creators, brands, and content they love.” This has “a lot of potential.”
On Wednesday morning, Naver’s stock price fell by 4%, while retailer Lotte Shopping dropped by 3.3%. Furthermore, the overall market declined by 0.5%. According to KTB Securities, the live commerce market in South Korea is projected to grow from 28 trillion Korean won (approximately 2.176 billion US dollars) in 2021 to 100 trillion Korean won (approximately 7.77 billion US dollars) this year. Currently, Naver holds around 60% of the market share.