NAVER Strengthens Partnership with Cafe24 to Establish Technical Platform for Global Expansion of SMEs
NAVER Strengthens Partnership with Cafe24 to Establish Technical Platform for Global Expansion of SMEs
NAVER Strengthens Partnership with Cafe24 to Establish Technical Platform for Global Expansion of SMEs
- NAVER and Cafe24 to reinforce the interoperability of the NAVER Shopping and Cafe24 e-commerce platform to provide business solutions for sellers of any size
- NAVER cooperated with Cafe24 in fulfillment, AI, cloud, fintech, etc. and accelerated its expansion to the global market including Japan
- The two companies exchanged shares worth USD 113 million (KRW 130 billion), expecting to spur the growth of SMEs and the D2C business model
2021-08-10
NAVER Corporation announced on August 10 that the company has agreed to expand its cooperation with Cafe24, the global e-commerce platform, to accelerate the growth and global expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The company also announced its strategic investment in Cafe24 to build a strong partnership.
Starting with the exchange of shares worth about USD 113 million (KRW 130 billion), the two companies will work together to help various sellers, including SMEs, design their solutions, marketing, logistics, and operations, tailored to their business sizes and circumstances.
The partnership will strengthen the connection between NAVER’s Smart Store or Brand Store — an online shopping platform for SMEs and big brands — and Cafe24’s D2C (Direct to Consumer) platform. Therefore, the interoperability between the two platforms will increase, enabling SMEs and brands to sell their products more effectively on both marketplaces. SMEs that have been growing their businesses through NAVER Smart Store can build their own brands by creating their own D2C stores on Cafe24. It also will become easier for Cafe24’s well-known brands or large-sized sellers to expand their online sales channel through NAVER Smart Store.
NAVER and Cafe24 support improving SMEs ’ business efficiency through competitive technology solutions and marketing collaboration in an effort to allow sellers to focus only on fast growth and groundbreaking business ideas. Through the NAVER and Cafe24 partnership, sellers based on Cafe24’s platform can use NAVER’s Shopping Live, subscription, and marketing solutions. In addition, NAVER Smart Store sellers can use Cafe24’s online store tools, marketing solutions, support on sales and branding, and operations management.
NAVER and Cafe24 plan to help SMEs expand their business to overseas markets by utilizing their global infrastructure and networks. NAVER plans to launch the NAVER Smart Store e-commerce platform in Japan by the end of this year in cooperation with Z Holdings, backed by NAVER and Softbank. Cafe24 is also expanding its partner network with top businesses and organizations around the world to provide SMEs with advanced global services.
In addition, the two companies will expand the scope of their cooperation, including the establishment of a fulfillment alliance, strengthening their competitiveness in fintech, such as NAVER Pay, and their technical cooperation in artificial intelligence and cloud. As a result, the two companies plan to establish themselves as tech-based e-commerce companies in global markets along with SMEs' growth.
“In cooperation with NAVER, sellers will be able to receive a full range of services in the e-commerce value chain such as marketing, logistics, sales, etc. through this one-stop solution. Together, we will grow as an innovation platform where anyone with good ideas can achieve success,” said Jaesuk Lee, CEO of Cafe24.
“Together we will spur the growth of the D2C model and this will be the driving force behind many SMEs’ growths and the cornerstone for their global expansion,” said Seong Sook Han, CEO of NAVER. “We will continue to develop an e-commerce ecosystem by combining the potential of NAVER Smart Stores with a lot of promising SMEs and the know-how of Cafe24 with various medium and large-sized sellers”
NAVER will use its treasury stock to make the investment to acquire 14.99% stake in Cafe24.
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