SK Planet’s 11street is targeting foreign markets and is establishing a global unified site that allows foreign buyers to purchase goods from South Korean internet shopping malls. It is also going to increase number of products by more than 50 million by linking 11street’s database for sales in South Korea with foreign sales channels. 11street is planning to go after foreign businesses due to saturated South Korean markets. This is the first time when a South Korean online shopping mall has put out a service that directly targets foreign sales.
According to distribution industries on the 30th, SK Planet is going to introduce a global site that allows foreign buyers to purchase goods from South Korean internet shopping malls by combing 11street for Chinese and English. By unifying these two sales channels, it is going to expand range of its services to every parts of the world. In order to unify these channels, SK Planet stopped registration of new customers for Chinese 11street on the 28th.
“Due to increase in uncertainty of Chinese markets, we have decided to make preemptive response that expands range of our business to global markets.” said a representative for SK Planet. “By using know-how we have accumulated from Chinese 11street, we are going to focus on allowing customers from all over the world to enjoy shopping conveniently.”
Chinese 11street secured Chinese domain address (.com.cn) and pushed for thorough localization strategy through a formation of curation of products that are based on preference from Chinese customers. It had attracted about 500,000 Chinese customers every month through 20,000 goods that were selected by 11street’s professional merchandisers.
11street is going to greatly expand range of sold products that were only sold to customers in China. Its major targets are Chinese regions such as China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong and South-East Asian regions such as Indonesia and Malaysia where South Korean contents and products are popular. Because its new unified site is also going to provide English service, 11street is expecting new customers from the U.S., Europe, and South America.
SK Planet is going to link database from South Korean 11street with this new global unified site. Number of products that 11street is currently handling is about 50 million. For businesses that want, SK Planet is going to expose their products on this unified site. While providing opportunities for South Korean companies to enter foreign markets, SK Planet is going to induce number of customers from foreign countries. This will be an opportunity for South Korean sellers to go after foreign customers.
SK Planet is planning to utilize 11street’s distribution center in Paju as the hub for distribution of its new unified site. It is going to deliver orders from foreign countries in bulk through international delivery services after focusing orders to 11street’s distribution center in Paju. SK Planet will be able to induce vitalization of sales by reducing cost for deliver to foreign countries that individual seller has to be responsible for.
It is likely that SK Planet is going to impose 5% of commission charge on sellers due to translation, distribution, and customer service. Commission for Chinese 11street when it was opened was 4.5%. Compared to how average commission for South Korean open market industries is between 10 and 15%, SK Planet’s commission is inexpensive. SK Planet has eased financial burden for South Korean sellers so that it can induce participation from South Korean companies in related markets.
“By expanding our service to major countries in the world, we will be able to provide opportunities for small and medium manufacturers to enter foreign markets.” said a representative for 11street. “We hope that this will become a silk road for IT-based e-commerce.”
Staff Reporter Yoon, Heeseok | pioneer@etnews.com