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SK is said to be considering a partnership with Lotte and compete with the leaders in the e-commerce market. It was also said that the company is mulling on approaching the shopping company as it is one of the options to survive in the competitive e-commerce market in South Korea.
SK looking to catch up with the big players
As per The Korea Times, if Shinsegae completes its acquisition of stakes in eBay Korea, the e-commerce business in the country is bound to change. Three major players will dominate the market, and these are Naver, Shinsegae, and Coupang.
The no. 1 today is Naver which enjoys 17% of the market share, while Shinsegae is in second with 15%. In third place is Coupang with 13% and SK is in fourth with just six percent market share and followed by Lotte in fifth place with five percent.
With this ranking, SK thought of joining forces with Lotte so they can merge their power and work together to rise in the rankings after competing against the top three. Moreover, through the collaboration, SK is aiming for further growth potential and challenge the leading players.
"We will open a store within 11st in collaboration with Amazon in July and we will discuss with Lotte and Homeplus various ways of possible cooperation in the second half of this year," Yoon Poong Young, SK Telecom chief finance officer, said last week. "Lotte Group and Homeplus are expected to explore the best possible ways to level up their mutual partnership."
SK Telecom signs deal with Genesys
Meanwhile, SK is not just aiming to expand its business in the e-commerce trade but is also working on other ventures, including artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In fact, it was reported to have signed a partnership with Genesys to launch AI call centers.
SK Telecom revealed earlier today that it teamed up with the American call center technology firm to develop and introduce a call center service powered by AI, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Finally, SK Telecom shared that the deal with Genesys will allow the company to integrate its technologies for cloud-based AI call center service. It is possible that the completed software will be distributed to 10,000 companies in 100 countries that Genesys is servicing.
