"Sold Out 100 Million Won Worth in 1 Minute"... 'Leferi' Trusts Influencer Power

Osuhoon Oh, Former Morgan Stanley CFO and Vice President
Expanding Business with Over 280 Creators
Two Consecutive Years of Profit: "Lower Advertising Fees, Much Greater Impact"

Oh Suhun, Vice President of Leferi

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It is the golden age of influencers. They may not be high-priced major stars, but they move the market by bringing their fandoms along. Especially in the beauty and fashion sectors, which are sensitive to trends, the influence of influencers is growing.

One company that has led this trend and quickly captured the market is the influencer business group ‘Leferi,’ established in 2013. Partnering with about 280 creators, it is expanding its business areas to entertainment, media commerce, marketing, and advertising. Its sales, which were 10.2 billion KRW in 2018, jumped to 16.5 billion KRW the following year, posting profits for two consecutive years. Recently, a mid-range cosmetics brand’s internet live commerce broadcast sold out 100 million KRW worth of products in just over a minute.

Oh Su-hoon, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Vice CEO who joined Leferi in April last year, majored in business and finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a Morgan Stanley analyst for seven years. He was responsible for analyzing major domestic distribution companies and recommending them to institutional and foreign investors, the ‘big players’ in the stock market. He happened to meet Choi In-seok, Leferi’s CEO born in 1989, and their conversation easily exceeded three hours.

Vice CEO Oh said, "I judged that it would be more meaningful to move a company by utilizing my abilities and skills," adding, "The generational trend of young talents heading toward tech-savvy startups also played a part." It was also a strategic recruitment for a future initial public offering (IPO). Vice CEO Oh stated, "We are thinking about the IPO timing around the second half of next year, but the decision will be made after observing the company’s situation," and added, "There must be specific uses and purposes requiring fundraising, such as overseas market expansion."

Vice CEO Oh is currently amazed by the power of influencers. He analyzed, "When an influencer with a clear character and specialization in a particular field appears, advertising efficiency greatly increases," and "It costs less and is much more effective than TV ads without a clear target." Influencers use the product before advertising it to pre-verify its quality and expose the product on their SNS to increase consumer familiarity and trust. Leferi also operates a big data research center analyzing beauty products recommended on YouTube.

Unlike other startups, Leferi does not suffer from a shortage of developers. Most of its 70 employees are humanities majors. Even science and engineering graduates need humanities-based thinking such as communication and sincerity when they join Leferi. Vice CEO Oh said, "Like the Agora of ancient Greece, members discuss with each other and create new ideas to grow the company," and expressed confidence, saying, "We will create a business that provides optimized products to consumers at more reasonable prices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.