Article at a GlanceMost e-commerce platforms imitate Amazon’s SPC (Selection, Price, Convenience) strategy, focusing on offering more products at lower prices with faster delivery. In contrast, KakaoTalk 슬롯 aims for relational commerce, focusing on the relationship between the giver and the recipient, and enhancing the service by addressing users’ pain points throughout the 슬롯giving journey. Representative features include the ‘Wishlist,’ where users can reveal the 슬롯s they want, and the ‘Recipient Option Change’ function, which allows the recipient to directly choose their desired options, addressing the difficulty users face in exchanging 슬롯s that match personal preferences. Additionally, KakaoTalk 슬롯 focused on full-price sales rather than engaging in cutthroat competition through price discounts and flash sales, enhancing the 슬롯’s value through product selection and packaging, and driving revenue growth with a differentiated merchandising (MD) strategy centered on relational commerce, expanding into the luxury category for exchanging 슬롯s in close relationships.
Despite the surge of low-priced e-commerce platforms from China, such as AliExpress, TEMU, and SHEIN, there is an e-commerce platform that continues to focus on full-price sales without discounts and has introduced high-end specialty stores, making steady progress through bold strategies. That platform is none other than KakaoTalk 슬롯, often referred to as the “national app.” As KakaoTalk’s first revenue model, KakaoTalk 슬롯 (hereafter referred to as KakaoTalk 슬롯) began in 2010 by brokering the sale of mobile 슬롯 certificates. In 2012, it expanded into the delivery product category, establishing a commerce platform where users can order and pay for 슬롯s directly within KakaoTalk. The KakaoTalk 슬롯, which revolutionized the 슬롯ing experience by allowing users to send 슬롯s without knowing the recipient’s address, has steadily grown since its launch in 2010 and surpassed an annual transaction volume of 3 trillion KRW in 2021.
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In June 2023, 슬롯 launched a new luxury specialty store, ‘LuX,’ which features over 120 luxury brands, including Hermès, Dior, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and CHANEL. By more than doubling the average transactionvalue, the platform has consistently maintained double-digit sales growth rates since its launch.
There is one key question that penetrates the success of the rapidly growing KakaoTalk 슬롯 : “How can we improve the 슬롯ing experience for users?” KakaoTalk 슬롯, unlike typical e-commerce platforms, focuses on the “purpose and act of giving a 슬롯,” ensuring the price range of 슬롯 items without relying on discounts or clearance sales, while prioritizing enhancing the value of the 슬롯 through product composition and packaging, in order to increase satisfaction for both partner companies and users. Furthermore, the expansion into the luxury category was a strategy chosen to strengthen the 슬롯-giving experience in close relationships, such as those between couples and family members, rather than mere acquaintances. In addition to commerce, continuous efforts have been made to improve the 슬롯ing experience through UX/UI enhancements. The ‘Birthday Friend Notification’ feature, which was introduced to help users easily remember and exchange 슬롯s without the need to manually track friends’ birthdays in a calendar, and the ‘Wishlist’ function, which allows users to reveal the 슬롯s they want, solving the issue of exchanging generic mobile 슬롯 certificates due to a lack of knowledge about each other’s preferences, are representative examples. By improving the 슬롯ing experience and enhancing the service, the cumulative transaction volume of KakaoTalk 슬롯 has surpassed 15 trillion KRW over the past seven years. Despite the increasing competition from other e-commerce platforms like Naver and 29CM, which have introduced 슬롯 features, KakaoTalk 슬롯 continues to maintain its solid position as the market leader and sustain impressive sales growth, so what is the secret behind its continued success? DBR analyzed the growth strategy of KakaoTalk 슬롯, which has established a unique position in relational commerce, based on interviews with leaders from the Kakao Commerce organization.
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