11Street squeezes more data from customers through reviews

11Street customers will now be able to leave reviews and save their personal information, such as gender and skin type, and this will be shown to other customers. [11STREET]

E-commerce companies struggling with stagnant growth as the pandemic comes to an end are upgrading their customer review and live broadcasting services.

11Street added a function in August for customers to enter personal information, such as gender, height, body weight and shoe size, when writing a review on fashion items. The company said on Oct. 13 that around 100,000 customers saved their data in just a month.

Users will be able to access the metadata of others only after they enter their own personal information. Once it is entered, it will be shown with all the reviews written by the user previously. They can still see the reviews of others without the metadata if they don't add their own personal information.

“Around 1.9 million reviews with information on body sizes are compiled so far, allowing customers to make their purchases after reading reviews written by other customers with similar sizes,” the company said.

The e-commerce company expanded the service to cosmetics and children's products from Oct. 13. Consumers will be able to save their skin types (dry, normal, oily and combination) and skin concerns (atopy, acne breakouts and sensitivity) as well as the height, body weight and shoe size of their children.

It is also allowing customers to share video reviews. An average of 15,000 videos are posted a day. In the first half, the number of video reviews reached 4.4 million, up around 50 percent on year. The company expects the figure will rise to 5 million by the end of the year.

“Referring a customer to reviews written by those that have similar body sizes and skin types as the purchaser can increase the success rate of online shopping,” said Lee Hyeong-ki, team leader of the company’s content platform strategy team. “More functions will be added in the future.”

Livestream shopping and deliveries are becoming more advanced as well.

Korean e-commerce website WeMakePrice is utilizing YouTube so products sold on WeMakePrice can be purchased through a YouTube live broadcast. The company is planning to broadcast 20 shows in the fourth quarter. The viewer can click on the banner shown in the video or the product image in the live chat section, which will lead to the WeMakePrice website and make a purchase.

“A better shopping experience will be offered by forming platform synergy through combining commerce and competitiveness of content,” said a spokesperson for WeMakePrice.

Online food delivery app Yogiyo started offering a beta service of its live stream shopping. The company says delivery will be made within an hour, as soon as the viewer places an order during the show. These shows will be tested every month in the second half before their official release.

Every show will have different themes with products on special discounts. Professional shopping show hosts and chefs will appear in the show and introduce food products as well as cooking recipes.

“We will further show the evolving Korean quick-commerce service by strengthening the product suggestion function of the live show,” said a spokesperson for Yogiyo.

BY BAEK IL-HYUN [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]