South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world. Products and services exist in Korea that Western countries haven’t even dreamt of yet. Smart homes and smart cities are becoming the norm. Big global names such as Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and Kia all hail from Korea.
All this technological advancement is set against a background culture of conservatism, demanding work, respect, and family. National service is mandatory for all young men, which adds to the culture of obedience and national pride. A strong cultural scene exists among young people often influenced by K-Pop and K-Drama.
Despite the language barrier, entering the Korean market is more straightforward compared to the complexities of entering Japan.
Why would you want to enter the Korean market?
Korea is one of the world’s wealthiest countries and often ranks in the top 15 countries by GDP. Korea also ranks in the top 10 countries for eCommerce spending. In 2019, South Korea ranked third worldwide by online retail sales, and its B2C E-Commerce market contributed nearly a quarter of the country’s overall retail sales (Statista). It is therefore unsurprising that foreigh companies would want to break into this market and grab their slice of the pie.
Young Korean’s appreciate high-quality brands and are easily influenced by popular culture, social media, and influencers. Also, whilst traditonally deeply nationalistic with preference for Korean brands, interested in international brands continues to grow with greater visibility to global trends made possible through the internet and social media, and of course through increased international travel and the popularity of studying abroad.
How do Korean’s search the internet?
As with most places, search engines are one of the most popular ways of finding new products and services. While Google is one of the most popular search engines, two big local names also take a significant share of the market – Naver and Daum. Naver is, in fact, the 5th largest search engine in the world (even though you may have never heard of it). Naver is not just a search engine but incorporates news, email, videos, and blogs to provide a one-stop-shop for web users. It is often referred to as the “Google of South Korea”.
Another popular site is Daum. Daum also provides a central portal for the web, a little like Yahoo. You can access your email, contribute to forums, search the web, browse blog articles, read the news, and connect with the world. Obviously, advertising and digital marketing play a big part in this space.
SEO in Korea
SEO varies quite significantly between Naver and Google. While Google ranks web pages quite fairly, Naver uses more obvious bias. Blogs and community content are given priority on the results page above general web content. In fact, Naver treats Blog content and Web content quite separately. With Google, many people use SEO techniques on their Blog to improve the general ranking of their entire site (which may also be selling products and services). With Naver, however, Blog related SEO techniques will help your Blog ranking but will have a negligible effect on your main site. In fact, Naver takes this separation so seriously that only sites beginning with the word Blog, e.g. blog.abc.com will be ranked in the blog section. There are several other Naver sections, including Naver Encyclopaedia, Naver Café, Images, Maps, Blogs, etc. Building content in all these areas will help you rank higher.
Naver also sells premium slots on its result page in a similar way to Google. Unlike Google that may place just a couple of paid ads at the top of the results, Naver may fill an entire page with paid adverts. Daum works similarly and ranks sites that appear across the different sections.
These two issues combined make it extremely hard to crack the market just with SEO, and paid advertising will likely need to be undertaken to ensure strong visibility for brands. However, Google is also a strong player. This means you will need to perform both Google and Naver and Daum SEO techniques. This may seem daunting, particularly if you don’t know the language, but an agency that specialises in the region and with multilingual capabilities such as Kindred, will be able to support you with the latest SEO techniques and relevant keywords that are beyond a simple translation from English.
What are the most popular social media apps in South Korea?
As well as having strong local performers, South Korea has also adopted leading global platforms and Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are all extremely popular. It is, therefore, possible to start breaking into the market using these sites which are more familiar and consistent with your activities in other markets.
To build strong local relevance and accelerate your brand growth, however, it is recommended to adopt the local Social Media sites into your Social Strategy. Kakao/Daum is one of the most popular social networking and messaging services available. In some ways, it is like WhatsApp but is much more feature-rich – similarly to China’s WeChat. Kakao includes a lot of the standard features you would find on Facebook such as photos, posts, stories, and news. A lot of this data is provided by the partner Daum.
Kakao also offers a range of innovative services such as online banking, taxi services, as well as food and gift ordering services. For many South Koreans, Kakao is their primary gateway to the internet. If you can offer a product or service that can be provided on demand, you’ll have great success in achieving your sales goals.
BAND is Naver’s answer to instant messaging, social media, and collaboration. Messaging again has a strong focus, but the concept of teams is more prominent. Whether that be groups of friends, clubs, schools, online gamers, or even military units, BAND provides a platform for staying connected, planning, and facilitating the activities of the group.
Influencers are very important in South Korean culture, and play a strong role in social media. The stars of K-Drama and K-Pop are of course some of the most influential, though unless you happen to be friends with one of these influencers, you are best to leave the approach to your marketing agency. An agency with local experience will only be able to identify influencers with the best fit for your brand strategy and audience, but will know how to open doors and negotiate a reasonable rate. As is the case globally, expect to pay a price commensurate with the influencer’s popularity and number of followers. South Korean influencers are particularly interested in promoting a lifestyle, fashion, cosmetic, and healthy eating products to their fans.
Where do people spend money online in South Korea?
As we’ve already established, E-commerce is very established in South Korea. The most popular site is Coupang, which can be thought of as the “Amazon of South Korea” and a marketplace where you can buy anything and everything. One of the most significant developments in recent years is the Dawn Delivery program, where if a customer places an order before midnight, it will be delivered by 7am the next morning. This is actually even quicker than Amazon’s same-day service! Getting your products into Coupang will instantly make your products and services available to a wide audience in Korea. Coupang recognises the concerns and challenges overseas companies face when entering the Korean market, so are developing a Global Retail Partner Program to make the process much smoother. More on this soon.
Gmarket is another popular marketplace. A bit like eBay, this site allows both new and used products to be sold. Gmarket is more suited to lower volume sales and bespoke/custom products versus Coupang.
Whichever platform you choose, you will need to localise your marketing communications to be suitable for the South Korean market, including E-Commerce and Brand website contents, promotional offers, product information sheets, etc. An Asia region experienced multilingual digital marketing agency like Kindred can ensure your brand and product is presented most effectively to local audiences.
Other forms of advertising
Webtoons are a South Korean phenomenon that Westerners are often not familiar with. A webtoon is a bit like a comic book cartoon that has been designed specifically for the internet. They are constructed of a series of cartoon images and text/titles that are scrolled through vertically. They can also include animations, sound, and sometimes video. They are perfect for consuming on smartphones and tablets. Advertising is possible through several methods. Some companies develop their own based around their company mascot. Others pay renowned webtoons to refer to their product or service. Webtoons are great for proving your business is taking entry to the market seriously.
K-Drama is now popular the world over, and streaming services such as Netflix are even commissioning their own K-Drama’s. As part of these shows, it is common for brands and products to be strategically placed in the show. Whether it be a fast food/drink restaurant, or the latest clothes or gadget, it is recognised that people aspire to be like their favourite characters and own the same products and frequent the same shops and restaurants. While fees are considerable, this is a sure-fire way to make a grand entry to the market whilst establishing strong local relevance.
Final thoughts
Globally recognised platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Instagram are available and are great for establishing an initial presence in the market. To build your brands towards a market leading positioning, definitely engage a local agency partner to help you crack local South Korean platforms such as Naver, Daum, kakaotalk, BAND, Coupang, and Gmarket. These are the places the majority of South Korean netizens hang out daily, and you will receive the most exposure. Being a more obvious international brand will likely even attract more attention for being something a little different.
Whatever you do, make sure your contents is responsive to mobile screens. In 2019, the share of mobile transaction value accounted for 64.5 percent of total online transaction value in South Korea (Statista)The South Korean market is an untapped goldmine of opportunity for international brands. While many people are scared by the language and content development required for local digital media platforms, it is really quite easy to overcome with the support of a good marketing agency with local experience and language capabilities like Kindred.
