‘Now It's Ontact!’ … Supporting Pohang Small Business Owners' Online Expansion Through Live Commerce

‘Pohang Excellent Products Ontact Business Support Project’, Marketing Training, etc.

Collaboration with Major Platforms like Naver to Revitalize Promotion of Small Business Products

Pohang City is set to actively support live commerce to revitalize non-face-to-face e-commerce for local small business owners.

A scene of conducting a live commerce broadcast.

The city has decided to actively support local small business owners through live commerce support, based on the analysis that proactive responses to the ‘Ontact’ era?where interactions happen online beyond non-face-to-face (untact)?are necessary.

‘Live commerce’ is an online channel that introduces and sells products in real-time through platforms such as websites and applications. Consumers can immediately ask questions to obtain information about the products being sold, and sellers can quickly adjust their sales strategies based on consumer reactions, enabling lively buying and selling.

Live commerce has become a new sales channel for local small business owners and has recently established itself as an essential digital marketing tool with high utilization. However, compared to large corporations, small business owners often face difficulties entering live commerce due to a lack of online technology and promotional costs.

Pohang City has started supporting live commerce broadcasts to overcome these limitations, gaining significant interest from small business owners.

Through the ‘Pohang Excellent Products Ontact Business Support Project,’ the city supports online marketing education for small business owners and helps them enter online shopping malls. It is also focusing investment on live commerce broadcasts, which have recently emerged as a major distribution channel, to respond to changing consumer culture.

In particular, the city is working to help small business owners enter large platforms by linking with companies such as Naver and Coupang, aiming to strengthen their self-sustainability.

Last year, the city conducted pilot support for live commerce broadcast production for three small business owners.

Through TVON live commerce broadcasts operated by TMON, local Pohang products such as Guryongpo boiled Yeonji red crab, semi-dried squid, and sugar-free handmade jam gift sets were promoted, achieving sales of 30 million KRW.

Encouraged by this, Pohang City has secured a budget of 200 million KRW this year and plans to broadcast about 30 live commerce episodes.

Especially this year, during the ‘Pohang International Fireworks Festival,’ which is being held normally for the first time in four years, the city plans to focus broadcasts to secure sales channels targeting tourists nationwide and aim to increase sales of local products.

The broadcast period will be from May 26 to 28, and small business owners who wish to participate in live commerce will be recruited in early April. Detailed information about support can be found on the Gyeongbuk Economic Promotion Agency website after the announcement begins.

Choi Bong-hwan, Director of the Economic and Labor Division, said, “We will continue to spare no effort in providing various support so that small business owners can build their online capabilities and generate actual sales through the expansion of live commerce broadcasts targeting them.”

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