eBay Korea to offer various tech-savvy shopping services

By Jhoo Dong-chan

eBay Korea, which runs the nation’s leading e-commerce platforms Auction and Gmarket, will introduce tech-savvy online shopping services with a new delivery network in an effort to satisfy more customers, a company official said Thursday.

The nation’s largest open-market company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last month with convenience store chain GS25, under which the two companies agreed to provide an unmanned delivery box, the so-called Smile Box, in the store starting August.

“Online-to-offline shopping service along with a prompt delivery network is essential in the e-commerce market,” said an eBay Korea official.

“Especially, an increasing number of single-occupant households are expected to use our online markets. So, we will analyze big data in densely populated areas with one-room apartments, multiplex houses and gosiwon to see the flow of human traffic and their nearest convenience stores. Once the Smile Box service is launched, our customers will be able to use the delivery service at any convenience store 24 hours a day 365 days a year.”

An official added that the delivery service will provide a position-tracking service for purchased items from Gmarket and Auction. Customers can also use the service when returning purchased items.

Auction, eBay Korea’s subsidiary, also launched its A.Tag service in October, under which consumers can pay for previously purchased items by touching a near field communication (NFC)-enabled magnetic tag with a smartphone. A total of eight brands including Gillette and Neutrogena are participating, while more are expected to join the service.

The e-commerce platform also opened an offline audio shop in a bid to satisfy an increasing demand for premium audio products. Consumers can try premium audio equipment in the shop and purchase it online via QR code.

Such tech-savvy services in an e-commerce market are also found overseas.

Partnering with local department stores, eBay Australia has recently applied a virtual reality (VR) system to their service, offering differentiated shopping experiences to customers. By wearing a VR device called Shoptical, shoppers can preview a total 12,500 items sold on their website through www.ebay.com.au/VR.

“The e-commerce environment is rapidly changing along with technology development,” said an official. “eBay Korea will continue its innovation in shopping technologies to maximize customer satisfaction.”