By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter


Previously, when avid audiences of home shopping channels wanted to snap up items on the show, they had to go through the hassle of placing phone calls to a retailer’s sales representative.
But couch potatoes no longer have to order by phone. To purchase the advertised products now, all it takes is a few clicks on the TV remote control.

CJ Homeshopping, one of Korea’s top cable shopping networks, launched the TV-based commerce, or T-commerce, services early this week.

Digital cable service subscribers at CJ Cablenet, a sister company of CJ Homeshopping, can enjoy the T-commerce offerings in eight areas like Yangchon-gu in Seoul and Pundang in Kyonggi Province.

After pressing a button on the remote to pick up an item, shoppers are required to toggle through choices like size after signing up for the home shopping feature in advance on TV.

``Around 16,000 households outfitted with set-top boxes for digital cable TV in the eight regions can enjoy the interactive service,’’ CJ Homeshopping spokesman Kim Hyung-chul said.

``This is a new frontier for retail. As clients of digital cable services increase, T-commerce will catch on at a rapid pace in the years to come thanks to the from-the-sofa-shopping convenience,’’ Kim expected.

GS Homeshopping, the ferocious rival of CJ Homeshopping, looks to jump onto the T-commerce bandwagon by embarking on the TV remote-enabled applications in Kyonggi Province next week.

Smaller cable shopping channels such as Hyundai Homeshopping and Woori Homeshopping also plan to facilitate the application early next year.

``Companies are literally rushing to T-commerce. In March, we had to shortlist many T-commerce applicants to 10 to issue licenses. All of them are about to kick-start businesses soon,’’ said an official at the Korean Broadcasting Commission.

Doubters on T-commerce Prospects

However, the future of T-commerce is not all a bed of roses as some skeptics raise questions on its outlook.

``The biggest hitch is that T-commerce is possible only for digital cable TV subscribers. Plus, people need time to be accustomed to the new thing,’’ GS Homeshopping spokesman Shin Hyung-bum said.

Shin expected it would take more than five years for the two-way T-commerce to take off in a full-fledged manner due to a lack of infrastructure.

In fact, the digital cable TV service that started this year has struggled to draw customers as subscribers stood at just 40,000 at the end of last month, falling far short of the original goal of 200,000 for this year.

The main reason for the start-up glitch is its high price tag, at about 20,000 won a month. By contrast, conventional analogue cable TV operators charge just thousands of won a month.

``Two-way digital cable must become more widespread for TV to evolve into the main platform for the next-generation retails and that would take considerable time,’’ Shin said.

Shin added that current telephone-based home shopping was only able to root after suffering setbacks five years in the nascent stage, suggesting things will be more unfavorable for remote-based home shopping.

``For now, people might want to just phone retailers to order items on the show rather than grappling with the complicated buttons of TV remotes. In that sense, the outlook of T-commerce is not so bright,’’ he projected.

As a way to boost T-commerce, Shin suggested the government should allow new-concept sales in relation to TV programs aired by terrestrial broadcasters of cable operators.

What he meant is that TV watchers should be able to buy clothes or jewelry worn by their favorite actors or actresses during a soap opera, by providing data on them. Such sales are presently banned.

``The genuine T-commerce service should be associated with TV programs. Technically it is possible at the moment but prohibited. The government should check out easing regulations on that to promote T-commerce,’’ Shin said.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr