CJ ENM’s CJ Onstyle bets big on live commerce

CJ Onstyle, the at-home TV shopping and e-commerce brand of South Korea’s content and commerce powerhouse CJ ENM Co., will embark on mobile live-stream shopping in hopes of escaping e-commerce stagnation.

On Thursday, CJ Onstyle introduced multiple new live-stream shopping shows on mobile devices in five categories: fashion, beauty, living, babies/children and new launches.

The company has invited Korean celebrities ranging from actors and actresses to singers to host the new mobile live-selling shows, which will begin to air on Monday.

Through the new shows, CJ Onstyle will focus on delivering more value to consumers’ shopping experiences and meeting their diverse shopping tastes, it said. 

“Consumer preferences are becoming more important to production selection than bang for the buck. That’s the trend in the commerce market,” Jung Mi-jeong, vice president and chief marketing officer of CJ Onstyle, said at a press conference on Monday.

“CJ Onstyle’s new programs will be produced to deliver new value to consumers to allow them to have new experiences.”

The company is pinning its hopes on the new mobile live-stream programs amid a slowdown in the Korean e-commerce market, particularly at-home TV shopping channels.

TO OFFSET THE E-COMMERCE SLOWDOWN  

According to data from Statistics Korea and Labangba Data Lab, the Korean e-commerce market grew 10% in the first half of 2024 from the same period last year.

Over that same period, the mobile live commerce market leaped 27%.

“I think the magic of blockbuster strategy will work,” Kim Ji-hyun, the head of strategy and investment at CJ ENM's Commerce Division, said at the press conference. “The new programs are expected to be our signature content.”

Under the blockbuster strategy, companies invest heavily in a few products in hopes of a hit.

CJ Onstyle urgently needs a breakthrough as its business has stagnated in recent years.

The company runs a TV home shopping channel, as well as mobile and data e-commerce businesses.

Its mainstay at-home TV shopping unit has been struggling with rising fees for using channels leased to them by paid TV channel operators such as cable or satellite TV services.

What's worse, its viewership is on a steady decline.

As a result, CJ Onstyle’s operating profit shrank to 69.3 billion won ($51.7 million) in 2023 from 179.0 billion won in 2020. Over the same period, its revenue fell 10% to 1.34 trillion won.

While its overall sales dropped, its mobile live-stream shopping services have seen revenue growth.

Revenue from its live shopping programs on mobile devices surged 81% in the first half of this year from the same period last year.

That is one reason that CJ Onstyle has made a big bet on the new mobile live commerce shows.

Write to Hyun-jin Ra at raraland@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.