- SK Planet CEO Jinwoo So appeared as keynote speaker at MWC 2014 in Barcelona on February 26
- “Will create a win-win story by using big data to deliver unique values to customers and promoting
business success to entrepreneurs based on online-offline commerce integration”
- To extend the competitive strengths of conventional offline merchants into online and mobile spaces
while bringing greater convenience and efficiency to the consumer
Seoul, Korea, February 27, 2014—SK Planet unveiled its NEXT Commerce strategy at the Mobile World Congress 2014
taking place in Barcelona. The new vision that will guide SK Planet’s business going forward is focused on leveraging
big data to deliver unique values to the customer.
SK Planet CEO Jinwoo So took the podium as the keynote speaker for the “Up Close and Personal: Power of Big Data”
session on the 26th, the third day of MCW. His theme was Big Data in NEXT Commerce.
Jinwoo So emphasized, “Investment in big data is no longer a matter of choice, but a necessity. Now is the time to focus
on how to utilize the big data in real business and what kind of value we wish to deliver to the customer by leveraging
that data.” He then explained that the key is in ‘mobile.’
The SK Planet CEO talked about Korea as an example of a market where the mobile environment is rapidly being
integrated into the basic fabric of consumer life. He suggested, “The explosion of mobile data usage by consumers
is not merely a quantitative phenomenon. It means that the opportunities for us to observe our customers from multiple
angles have dramatically increased as well.” He explained, “SK Planet’s rich experience in mobile platform operation
tells us that big data in mobile commerce can offer unique values to the customer.”
Korea’s mobile commerce market is forecasted to reach KRW 10 trillion in transaction value this year. It has grown
exponentially since 2011 at a whopping CAGR of 154.7%. This is over 2.5 times as fast as the US market, which grew
on average 61.1% a year, making Korea one of the most exciting mobile commerce markets in the world.
A prominent pioneer in this market is SK Planet’s 11st, which has seen its mobile commerce transactions multiply
over eight-fold in the past two years. Moreover, mobile has expanded its share of the payments space with mobile
payments accounting for over 50% of the daily payment volume.
Jinwoo So revealed that the data provided by the customers have deepened knowledge about the customers which
in turn have served as the basis for delivering a more consistent customer experience. This, according to So, has
enabled SK Planet to create the Omni-Channel linking online, mobile and offline as one. The CEO stated that
SK Planet will be realizing the vision of the NEXT Commerce in which the marriage of commerce and big data
will bring richer understanding of the customer, innovation and a true online-offline integration.
The NEXT Commerce SK Planet envisions and was presented by Jinwoo So is built on online and offline convergence.
In such an environment, the customer and the entrepreneur would interact on the mobile network in myriads of ways
and without limits. Transactions as well as the exchange of communication and information post-sale can take place
in an extremely convenient and real-time fashion. It is essentially “the integrated commerce”, explained So.
The CEO then continued with the example of the NEW OK Cashbag, which is the mobile optimized version of the
OK Cashbag service subscribed to by over 50,000 merchants and 37 million members. According to So, such
an integrated commerce platform can create a win-win environment by delivering convenient, efficient and rich
experience personalized to the user and providing cost efficiency and additional income generation opportunity to
the entrepreneur. The aim is to “better connect the diverse sellers and consumers in the open structure of the
integrated commerce platform.”
The defining feature of the NEXT Commerce is the centrality of the mobile. Innovative technologies such as LBS,
NFC and BLE will be used to create an organic web of relationships among the consumer, the retail outlet and
the producer on the mobile network for there to be interactions and exchanges.
For example, a customer holding her smartphone near an NFC tag at a merchant location would get loyalty points
for her account as well as coupons and information about special offers by other merchants in the vicinity.
Such features will enable joint marketing by a group of merchants. In addition, information about restaurants and
shops can be fed to the customer’s device based on his or her current location, which can make life easier and
richer for the customer while allowing partner companies a unique opportunity for targeted marketing.
SK Planet’s ultimate vision is to offer new values to the customer who sees, hears and consumes the world
through the mobile media. The company is set to launch NEXT Commerce on a more global scale building on
its already powerful commercial platforms of OK Cashbag and 11st.
Jinwoo So had spoken of this vision earlier in November 2013 as a keynote speaker at Tech Planet 2014.
He said, “The innovation towards a truly online-offline integrated commerce has to be founded on an understanding
of the human being, creative thinking, application of innovative technologies and the creation of value underpinned
by all of the above. SK Planet will be at the forefront of ushering in that innovation.”
