SEOUL -- Kakao Enterprise, the artificial intelligence-based business solution developer wing of South Korea's web service giant Kakao, has partnered with a domestic video technology solution company to beef up the company's live commerce broadcasting platform.
A live commerce service offers online and mobile entertainment shopping shows in formats that are similar to that of TV home shopping channels. However, unlike the original TV shopping show format, the online version invites viewers to communicate with show hosts in real-time. Customers can ask questions about products and services that are currently on sale.
Online TV shopping show services gained popularity in 2020 when people were grounded due to a coronavirus pandemic. Shoppers favored live commerce channels instead of crowded offline shopping malls and department stores. The live commerce market that stood at 400 billion won ($316.8 million) in 2020 is projected to stand at 10 trillion won in 2023, according to Kyobo Securities.
Kakao Enterprise signed a memorandum of understanding with Catenoid, a domestic video technology company, to create synergy in the business-to-business (B2B) live commerce market. Catenoid's live commerce platform technology and Kakao's live broadcasting service platform technology will be combined to offer upgraded live commerce services for enterprises.
With combined technologies, the performance of "Kakao i Connect Live," Kakao's real-time video streaming platform, will be greatly enhanced to reduce the latency to less than one second. Keeping the latency to a minimum level is important in the video live streaming sector because if the latency is too high, it will create a communication gap between the broadcaster and viewers.
"Through close cooperation with Kakao Enterprise, we hope to create a good synergy in the rapidly-changing media industry," Catenoid director Lee Hyung-koo said in a statement on April 27.