Goodwill Directly Translates into Profit

Cyworld·NateOn Planning and Operation SNS Expert CEO Sim Seonghwa
"Igeo Eottae is a platform that shares profits generated from good deeds"

CEO Sim Seonghwa

"We aim to be a platform that shares profits generated from users' good deeds." The goal of Sim Seong-hwa, CEO of Daebeomhan Saramdeul, was clear. He wants to create an ecosystem where 'acts of goodwill' recommended to help others also lead to profits. This is the ambition of a startup challenging the rapidly growing e-commerce market after COVID-19, with a service that combines the nature of social networks. However, this cannot be seen as just a casual startup challenge. CEO Sim is one of the top experts in the domestic social networking service (SNS) field, having planned and operated Cyworld and NateOn in the past. Based on his SNS expertise, we listened to CEO Sim's story, who asks e-commerce users, 'What about this?'

On the 14th, CEO Sim said, "Igeo-eottae is a service where users communicate opinions about products with their acquaintances as a medium, and within those opinions, they make purchases and network," adding, "It is a form that combines social network characteristics and commerce characteristics." Daebeomhan Saramdeul, founded by CEO Sim in 2020, introduced 'Igeo-eottae,' a so-called like-commerce platform. Like-commerce is a new commerce trend where purchases occur based on recommendations, evaluations, and preferences among general consumers. It expands from influencer commerce, where products recommended by influencers are distributed, to a system where sales and purchases happen based on products recommended by trusted acquaintances or friends, even if they are not influencers.

Igeo-eottae allows users to more easily share and recommend products with acquaintances through its own app. Unlike existing commerce services, it expands the benefit targets by providing sales incentives to recommending users and reward points to buyers, gaining positive responses. CEO Sim said, "We created a structure where profits generated can be shared between the person who recommended and the person who purchased." Currently, the recommendation target is products, but CEO Sim explained that this scope can be expanded in the future.

The growth potential of Igeo-eottae is confirmed by its high purchase conversion rate. The purchase conversion rate across all categories is about 12%, showing a higher figure compared to other commerce platforms, and especially for agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, it records a purchase conversion rate close to 25%. Investors are also paying attention. Recently, Daebeomhan Saramdeul attracted investment from Korea Investment Partners, bringing the cumulative investment amount to over 2 billion KRW.

The name 'Igeo-eottae' was decided reflecting the service's nature and direction. Although there were concerns that it might be confused with existing services in other fields, CEO Sim chose the name that best represents the service. He said, "When recommending products to friends, saying 'Igeo-eottae' (What about this?) is the most common," and added, "I thought it was not a matter to give up the most common term." Accordingly, his know-how is fully reflected in the service.

After NateOn and Cyworld, CEO Sim founded the startup Rankwave, which analyzes user interests and behaviors based on large-scale data. He also experienced an exit when CJ acquired Rankwave through a merger and acquisition (M&A). While crossing fields such as SNS and big data, he focused on the essence of the service. He emphasized, "If you understand the essence, it's a challenge worth trying," and said, "Whether people will continuously recommend products to friends is important. If commerce happens on social platforms, we will create standards for how it should be."

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