- Offering Korean seafood mall services on global online platforms like “Amazon” and “Shopee” -

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; Minister MOON, Seong-Hyeok) announced that K-Seafood Mall, its Korean seafood online shopping mall services, will be launched on four major online shopping platforms based in Korea’s major export partners of China, the US, Thailand, and Singapore from 5 July (Mon.) to support the continued entry of high quality Korean seafood into global e-commerce markets.

* Taobao China (5 July), H Fresh US (12 July), Amazon (26 July), Shopee Thailand/Singapore (26 July)

Local consumers will be introduced to diverse products from more than 100 Korean suppliers via K-Seafood Mall, where they can purchase Korean seafood products through easy access via PC or mobile device.

In particular, K-Seafood Mall offers the contact-free purchase channel of Live Commerce broadcasts. Recently, many global brands, including the leaders Amazon and Google, are starting to promote and sell products via live broadcasts. With experienced shopping hosts communicating with consumers and introducing the products as they cook and enjoy the food during home shopping broadcasts, this is expected to greatly help raise awareness of the products and boost purchases.

Moreover, there are various marketing plans in place, including product marketing via various SNS platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) in partnership with local big names (influencers) as well as offering discount coupons, free delivery, and giveaway events during the local consumer market and online platform consumption activation seasons.

K-Seafood Mall launched on Taobao of China will be promoted via Xiaohongshu, a platform that combines social media with online malls, to attract more consumers. From August, an offline food studio will be launched in Beijing to market and allow visitors to experience various Korean seafood products. There are also plans to create promotional content, host live broadcasts together with local celebrities (influencers), and provide virtual product experience services.

K-Seafood Mall for Amazon in the US will be offering logistics package agency service, known as Fulfillment Service*. Amazon will handle product storage in local warehouses, product delivery, and customer services. This will enable Korean seafood businesses to focus more on the planning, launch, and marketing of their products with higher demand from consumers.

* Local logistics firms will provide outsourcing services to potential sellers, which will cover the shipping and storage, packaging, delivery, inventory management, and product change/refund services.

H-Mart is the largest Korean distributor in the US, with more than 97 offline distribution stores across 14 states, including New York and California, recording more than USD 1 billion in yearly revenue. It has its own cold-chain distribution system as well as a large-scale logistics center. Based on this foundation, H-Mart operates O2O (Online to Offline) services to connect online and offline via its online shopping mall, H-Fresh. As orders made via K-Seafood Mall on H-Fresh allow consumers to quickly receive the goods from a nearby offline shop, more Korean seafood products are expected to enter the US market.

The e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia were not as favorable as Amazon as they did not offer logistics outsourcing services, which posed many challenges for fresh or refrigerated seafood products. To resolve this, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries worked actively to sign agreements with large local importers with local warehouse facilities to provide logistics services exclusively for K-Seafood Mall to be opened on Shopee. This has helped resolve any blind spots in the distribution process, which will allow various Korea seafood products to be quickly delivered to the local market.

Businesses wishing to be included in K-Seafood Mall can apply at any time via Korea Fisheries Association. Korean seafood companies can check for more details on the website (biz.kfish.kr) to apply for the export support program.

Kim Jae-cheol, Head of Fisheries Policies at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, commented that “K-Seafood Mall will continue to grow to help more Korean seafood products enter the global e-commerce market.” He also added that “this will not be a support program that only helps to open malls. The support will continue to build a strong consumer base in the local markets with live broadcasts via social media and fast logistics services.”