High Shopping Co, the joint venture between InTouch Media and Hyundai Home Shopping in South Korea, aims to be among the top three players in Thailand's 20-billion-baht home shopping market by 2020.
Hyundai is the third South Korean home shopping operator to have its presence in Thailand after CJ O Shopping, which partners GMM Grammy, and GS Home Shopping, the partner of TrueVisions.
"Thailand's home shopping market has a lot of potential, with annual 20% growth to reach 20 billion baht in 2020, double the revenue last year," said Lee Hae-seung, chief executive of High Shopping.
The growth will come mainly from a rapid change in lifestyles and Thais' strong shopping culture.
Home shopping offers convenience for customers who do not need to travel to shopping centres, while it is an alternative distribution channel for manufacturers and retailers.
Home shopping contributes 0.5% to the retail industry in Thailand compared with 4% in South Korea. This reflects the opportunities that have attracted three out of seven Korean home shopping operators to invest in Thailand.
Mr Lee said Thailand was the second country where Hyundai Home Shopping had a foothold after China. It expects to enter Vietnam in the second quarter.
Philip Tan, president of InTouch Holdings Plc, parent firm of InTouch Media, said TV home shopping business would form part of the digital content to drive the company's growth.
It will leverage the strong customer base of its mobile flagship AIS Plc to lead potential customers to High Shopping.
With 500 million baht in registered capital, High Shopping is 51% held by InTouch Media.
By the middle of this year, High Shopping expects to have 2,500 products for sale. Cosmetics and kitchenware are expected to be the best-selling products, followed by fashion, electronics, IT and gadgets.
Most products will be premium Korean brands before the company expands to other international brands. It offers free delivery, call centre support and after-sales service.
High Shopping's TV programmes can be viewed through the satellite TV platform via PSI, GMMZ, Big4, DTV and AIS Playbox before it expands to cable TV.
"We will expand to broadcast shopping programmes on mobile devices as well as allowing shoppers to buy from online and mobile applications," said Mr Tan.
It expects to have 4.5 billion baht in sales and a 25% market share in 2020.
