Naver aiming to bring its e-commerce biz to Japan

Naver Shopping is a top e-commerce company in South Korea and has outdone other big players in the country, including eBay Korea and Coupang. With its big success, the company now wants to expand its reach by setting up a business and offering services in Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

It was reported that in 2020, Naver dominated 17% of the e-commerce market in S. Korea, with Coupang placing second with 14% and eBay Korea coming in third place with 12% based on data from Kyobo Securities.

On the global stage, Naver already set up a beta e-commerce service called MySmartStore, and this is initially available in Japan. It was in October when LINE announced the launch of the said e-commerce platform and this has brought the no. 1 e-commerce service of Korea to the Japanese land.

MySmartStore is simply the Japanese version of Korea’s Naver SmartStore which is the online shopping mall owned by Naver. It was said that the SmartStore recorded a gross merchandise value of ₩17 trillion last year and grew 46% year-over-year in the first two quarters of 2021. It has 470,000 merchants selling on the platform.

The MySmartStore is still in beta at this time and by spring of 2022, Naver is planning to make the service official. Naver has plans to further expand to Europe and Southeast Asia. In 2018, Naver and Mirae Asset Group jointly invested ₩1 trillion or around $842 million, with each company giving ₩500 billion to make up the fund.

As per Korea Joongang Daily, Naver is also looking to create synergy effects with global companies it has invested in to accelerate expansion worldwide.

“The online shopping penetration rate is low in Japan, but that will actually function as an opportunity for a latecomer like Naver because that means there’s more room for growth,” Naver’s spokesman, Yoo Jee Min, said.

The service at MySmartStore is linked to the Line app so both sellers and merchants can easily transact. Line is the most used mobile messenger service in Japan and Naver is taking advantage of this. Moreover, the app also lowers the hurdle for the locals when they start using MySmartStore since they are already familiar with the Line messenger.

“Naver can simply implant its technology and content on a shopping platform when it rolls out services abroad without having to create something new,” Dankook University business professor, Jung Yeon Sung, said. “This gives Naver a head start in an overseas market compared to many others that may have to start from scratch.”