Naver and Kakao are expanding the range of players who recommend products in shopping. Naver is supporting sellers in creating product content directly while also increasing partnerships with creators. Kakao has gone a step further and begun allowing ordinary users to participate in product recommendations.

The strategy aims to move beyond the existing approach in which consumers search for what they need or platforms display products. It uses sellers, creators and users as new paths for product discovery to boost exposure and connect it to actual purchases.

Naver fronts sellers and creators

Naver introduced the "Store Content" feature on Smart Store on Oct. 14.

The feature lets sellers produce separate content on discount events, new products and how to use products. They can combine images, videos, products, coupons and Shopping Live into a single page.

Previously, product detail pages and notices were the main tools for sellers to deliver information to consumers. Now they have more space to promote products by creating content directly. Posted content can be linked to and displayed across multiple sections within a store, allowing products to be shown not only to users who searched for them but also to users browsing content.

Naver is also expanding product recommendations that use creators, in addition to sellers.

"Shopping Connect" is an affiliate service in which creators introduce products listed by Naver Plus Store sellers and receive revenue settlements when orders are placed through the creators' sales links.

As of August this year, participating creators topped 190,000 and the number of products involved exceeded 3.4 million. In July, the scale of creator rewards also rose about 3.5 times from a year earlier.

The approach broadens channels through which consumers can discover products by having sellers create content within Smart Store and creators introduce products across various content channels outside the store.

Kakao adds ordinary users as recommenders

Kakao expanded the scope of product recommendations to ordinary users.

Kakao opened the "Curator" feature on KakaoTalk Gifts on Oct. 13. Any Gifts member can choose a product among eligible items, create a dedicated link and share it on their channels such as blogs, YouTube and Instagram.

If a purchase occurs through a shared link and conditions for recognizing revenue are met, a commission is paid to the recommending user. Kakao is also running a promotion offering a total 9 percent commission through December to boost initial participation. The commission rate may change if the limited budget is exhausted.

If existing Gifts users were consumers who bought products, they now also take on the role of recommenders who bring other consumers into Gifts through their own channels.

Kakao previously ran a pilot test of "Talk Affiliate" that linked KakaoTalk short-form creators with Gifts products. While Talk Affiliate connects short-form creators with products, the new curator feature differs in that any Gifts member can participate in recommendations.

Kakao plans to gradually expand related features so that curators can find products to recommend more easily and share them across multiple channels.

The change also aligns with a trend in which Gifts is expanding into general shopping beyond relationship-based commerce in which users send products to acquaintances. In the second quarter this year, combined transaction value for TalkBiz commerce, including Gifts and Talk Deal, was 2.7 trillion won, up 9 percent from a year earlier, and self-purchase transaction value within Gifts rose 39 percent over the same period.

Expanding product discovery and purchase touchpoints by increasing recommenders

Naver and Kakao differ in how they increase recommenders. Naver is focusing on supporting Smart Store sellers in producing content and connecting products with the creator ecosystem. Kakao lowered the barrier so that any Gifts member can participate in product recommendations.

The methods differ but the goal is similar. It is to go beyond showing products only in designated shopping sections within a platform and create new product discovery paths by having sellers, creators and users introduce products through their own content and channels.

For platforms, the more recommenders there are, the more they can increase product exposure outside shopping sections they operate directly. The structure is to encourage participation with rewards for recommendations and connect the interest generated to purchases on the platform and higher transaction value.

An industry official said, "In the past, it was important to get users to search and find products, but recently it has become a key task for commerce platforms to make users discover products in the process of consuming content." The official added, "Increasing the number of players who participate in recommendations can ultimately be seen as a strategy to expand both product exposure and opportunities to convert to purchases."