Shin-hye Ahn (안신혜), Digital Today - The direct-to-consumer (D2C) shopping mall was built, from creating the store to producing product detail pages. But another barrier emerged, such as how to use digital devices like computers and various administrative procedures. For first-time founders, taking the first step remains difficult. The need for help through meeting startup experts in person is becoming more urgent.

According to SaaS UI/UX design firm Sazfactor, 75 percent of users who have difficulty during service onboarding stop using the service in the first week. Users who experience a service's core value within the first 5 to 15 minutes are three times more likely to keep using it than those who wait more than 30 minutes.

Real-time expert support... build your own shopping mall immediately on site

Against this backdrop, global e-commerce platform Cafe24 is focusing on expanding its existing online-centered startup support system to offline locations. It aims to lower entry barriers in the early stages of starting a business. Cafe24 is providing practical help to prospective and early-stage founders at the Cafe24 PRO Community Center it opened in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, in January.

The community center is an open space that supports the entire on-site process of running an online business, from opening an online shopping mall to passing on operational know-how. Its key differentiator is a real-time startup support system delivered through experts stationed on site. This allows users to complete the procedures for opening a shopping mall immediately at the center.

Business operators who visit the center can build a shopping mall using prepared materials, learn expert-level processes for producing product detail pages using their own product images, and secure the results immediately. The process is conducted based on the Cafe24 PRO system. Even business operators at the early planning stage who do not yet have product images or a business registration certificate can experience the same build process with expert guidance.

From PG signup to SEO... tailored consulting that breaks down early entry barriers

Cafe24 also provides tailored consulting to strengthen professional operational capabilities. Visitors can be briefed on premium functions offered by Cafe24 PRO, including search engine optimisation (SEO), customer relationship management (CRM) marketing and expansion features for domestic and overseas marketplaces. The program also includes a question-and-answer (Q&A) session where visitors can freely ask what they have been curious about regarding an e-commerce business.

In particular, administrative and technical settings that are mandatory for running an e-commerce business but can be difficult for prospective founders can also be resolved on site through one-on-one expert guidance. These include membership signup and identity verification, domain connection, joining an electronic payment gateway (PG), and applying a shopping mall design theme. Parts that were hard to understand with online materials alone can be addressed directly with experts on site.

According to Cafe24, over one month after the Cafe24 PRO Community Center opened (Jan. 7 to Feb. 6), about 70 visitors among about 100 applicants gave a satisfaction score of 3.8 out of 4.

Applicants responded that they were able to sketch out operations for an online shopping mall that had felt daunting, and that their fear of getting started had eased a lot. They said early setup and operations that felt difficult to handle alone were resolved on site, greatly reducing anxiety and burden in the early stage of starting a business.

Cafe24 plans to respond to growing demand by systematising real startup know-how and frequently asked questions accumulated offline, producing them as online educational content and expanding regular webinars.