SK Planet expands overseas business

A model poses at the “n11.com Studio” in Turkey, a service center run by SK Planet for its online shopping mall, “The n11.com.” The e-commerce affiliate of SK Group launched the online shop in March 2013. / Courtesy of SK Planet

By Park Jin-hai

SK Planet, an e-commerce affiliate of SK Group, starting to see its overseas business pick up speed.

SK Planet’s flagship online shopping mall 11 ST went operational in Turkey last year, followed by Indonesia this year. While its business is in its early stages in both countries, it competes shoulder to shoulder there with existing global e-commerce titans like eBay.

Partnered with Turkey’s Dogus Group, it launched “The n11.com” in March 2013, becoming the first Korean services platform making a foray into foreign market.

As of December 2013, the online shopping mall has succeeded in securing some 7,000 local sellers and more than 6 million products on offer in just nine months. It posted $123 million in sales there last year.

The local sellers in the online shop attribute its success over such a short period of time to the differentiated services it offers.

Instead of just providing an online venue for sellers, it is operating “n11.com Studio,” where it gives buyers training and consulting services.

“Considering that the online market is burgeoning there, we built an e-commerce ecosystem, where our business partners, sellers and buyers can have a win-win situation,” the company said in a statement.

It also introduced a 24-hour customer service center for the first time in Turkey and has run various promotional events to entice customers such as coupon services and customer rewards programs.

For its Indonesian online shopping mall “elevenia,” launched in March this year, the company has also tapped the localization strategy, on top of the services that distinguish it from its rivals.

“Indonesians use smartphones to access the Internet. Given the locals’ lifestyle pattern we’ve improved the mobile infrastructure so that customers can easily purchase products through their mobile phones,” the company stated.

Partnered with XL Axiata one of largest mobile carriers in Indonesia, it gives date-fee-free access to customers.

It operates three “Seller Zone”s in Jakarta as well to aid local sellers in marketing like the one seen in Turkey.

Over 550,000 products are on offer and there are special promotion sections such as K-pop products and luxury goods.

Indonesia’s e-commerce is a $1.4 billion market, as of 2013, and is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 39 percent by 2022.