VIDEO COMMERCE SUMMIT 2026 Recap: 330 Attendees
Words by
Lucid
๐ Summit at a glance
Held October 2 at Lotte World Tower SKY31, with 330 attendees from about 150 leading Korean companies in fashion, beauty, e-commerce and retail
Meta Korea, MUSINSA, Hana Bank, @cosme and more shared how to drive results, plus live and short-form strategies by category
7 AI demo booths, where Multi-Host (several hosts going live together) and the AI chatbot (real-time chats with viewers) drew the most interest
On October 2, Shoplive wrapped up its first-ever Video Commerce Summit 2026 at Lotte World Tower SKY31 in Seoul. 330 people from about 150 leading Korean companies across fashion, beauty, e-commerce and retail attended in person, and about 100 people from Shoplive's customers in Japan joined online.
Item | Details |
|---|---|
Date & time | Friday, October 2, 2026, 11:00 to 15:20 |
Venue | SKY31, 31st floor, Lotte World Tower, Songpa-gu, Seoul |
Attendance | 330 people from about 150 leading Korean companies |
Online | About 100 people from customers in Japan |
Program | 8 sessions, 7 demo booths, networking lunch, prize draw |
From Meta Korea, MUSINSA and Hana Bank to @cosme in Japan, the speakers across 8 sessions came from different industries and companies of very different sizes, yet they landed on the same conclusion: live commerce works best as a channel for real-time conversations that build relationships and trust, not as a discount-driven sales broadcast. This recap covers the key takeaways and numbers from each session, plus what happened at the demo booths. For the pre-event overview, see Video Commerce Summit 2026: event overview.
What did all 8 sessions have in common?
Three things: talk with customers, show up consistently, and feed what you hear on live into your next plan. Whether they were in fashion or finance, the companies getting results were doing all three.
Conversation over discounts: Purchases moved when hosts answered chat questions on the spot. Pulio saw it with live product demos, Hana Bank with explanations of interest-rate terms, and @cosme with one-on-one consultations from beauty advisors.
Consistent scheduling over one-off hits: R2W has gone live every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. for four years, and MUSINSA has run 1,668 live shows over six years. Simply showing up at a set time brought customers back on their own.
Customer voices drive the next plan: Questions that keep coming up are often the reasons people hesitate to buy. Speakers turned those questions into the first five minutes of the next show, the next product plan and the next content topic.
Here are the key numbers shared in the sessions.
Company | Numbers shared |
|---|---|
Shoplive | 300+ companies in 20+ countries, 1,200 live shows a day, 3 to 4x higher purchase conversion among video viewers |
@cosme | 1.5x viewers, 2.6x watch time per viewer, average viewing time of 20+ minutes |
Pulio | 2 to 3x purchase conversion rate, time on site up from 10 to 20 seconds to 5 to 10 minutes |
R2W | Two shows a week for four years, 380,000 cumulative viewers, 6,000 to 7,000 viewers โ 30,000 |
Hana Bank | 10 to 20x sign-ups via live, 15,745 K League savings accounts opened (25x the previous business day) |
MUSINSA | 1,668 shows in six years, live GMV up from about 10 billion KRW (about US$7.1M) to 50 billion KRW (about US$35.7M), about 200% of target for New Balance |
How do Shoplive and Meta see video commerce?
Kiyoung Kim, CEO, Shoplive: Video is the most powerful touchpoint with customers
Kiyoung Kim opened with the question Kim heard most when founding the company six years ago: "Why go live on our own channel when we could just sell on a big platform?" Today, Kim said, the numbers answer that question. Live on your own channel keeps users around longer, turns them into buyers and lets you build customer data firsthand.
Shoplive is now used by more than 300 companies in over 20 countries across North America, Europe and Asia, streaming 1,200 live shows a day. Combined, the customers broadcasting on Shoplive have more than 200 million MAU. "Users who watch video convert 3 to 4 times better than those who don't," Kim said, adding that not a single customer has left Shoplive for another solution in six years. Leading commerce platforms in the US and Europe also run live auctions and live shows on Shoplive's technology.
Young Choi, Managing Director, Meta Korea: Live commerce is a powerhouse for repeat purchases
Young Choi described how Meta sees live commerce: "an overwhelmingly strong channel for driving repeat purchases and average order value." Choi also stressed that it can cover the entire funnel, from awareness to purchase, in one go.
Choi named three traits that successful live shows share: a format that gives people a reason to buy now, storytelling with a clear arc, and engagement that calls viewers by name. Choi also passed along practical tips from Meta's global partners. Put one sentence at the top of your script about the motivation you want to give customers, not the product name. For seasonal shows like Parents' Day, start from what customers are worried about at that time of year, not the date itself. And since viewers drop in and out, include a call to action (CTA) at least twice. Choi added that Instagram live video ads will start rolling out in Korea this month.
Kyuwon Lee, CTO, Shoplive: Products and AI that lighten the operational load
Kyuwon Lee walked through what's changed across onboarding, operations and analytics. With the latest Shoplive Studio app update, you can prep, stream and manage products from a single smartphone. Install the Shopify store plugin and product sync plus live sales tracking switch on right away (a Cafe24 plugin is coming soon).
Lee also covered stability and security. WebRTC keeps latency between host and viewers under 0.5 seconds, and Lee introduced a system where AI calculates in advance how much server capacity to add for moments like right after a push notification, when traffic can hit its peak within 15 seconds. Shoplive has completed SOC 2 Type 1 certification, with Type 2 expected by the end of the year.
Among the new features, Multi-Host drew the most anticipation. Several people in different locations can appear together in one live show, and guests join from a web browser with no app to install. Lee also introduced attendance tracking, real-time subtitles and translation, AI moderation, AI short-form clipping, AI Creative Studio (which turns a single product URL into a video in under five minutes) and the AI chatbot. Attendees could try a prototype AI avatar that answers viewer questions in real time at the demo booth.
Why doesn't @cosme in Japan do "live shows built to sell"?
For @cosme, Japan's largest beauty platform, live is about welcoming customers, not sales. Kiyotaka Onishi, Head of Connect Experience Division at istyle, said, "It's fine if people watch the live and then buy in a store or at a nearby drugstore." Wherever they end up buying, Onishi explained, @cosme's approach is to help shoppers choose with confidence.
The backdrop is choice fatigue. More than half of Japanese consumers say there are so many cosmetics that they can't tell what's right for them, so they don't choose at all. @cosme has long had beauty advisors in stores nationwide listen to customers' concerns and suggest causes, solutions and the right products. Customers who received these one-on-one consultations spent more than twice as much per year as those who didn't. But a single beauty advisor can only see 10 to 15 customers a week. Live turned that 1:1 consultation into a 1:N consultation that reaches thousands at once.
The way they run shows is different, too. Before a show, they announce only the theme and keep the products under wraps, so people who weren't interested in a specific product still tune in because of their concerns. Average viewing time is over 20 minutes, and more than 30% of viewers join in through comments. Onishi called it "a live you take part in, not just watch." Since Shoplive was integrated into the @cosme app, viewers can read reviews and complete checkout without leaving the app, and viewership has grown 1.5x while watch time per viewer has grown 2.6x.
This session was presented in Japanese. On site, Shoplive provided AI speech-recognition-based real-time translated subtitles in Korean, English and Japanese, and the livestream to Japan carried the Korean sessions with Japanese subtitles.
What results did a D2C brand and a bank get from live?
Pulio: "Customers responded the moment we stopped sticking to the script"
When massager brand Pulio launched live shows on its own online store, it lined up a professional host, a studio and a polished script. The first show flopped. The more it looked like slick home shopping TV, the more customers saw it as just another ad. The response came when the host wore the product in everyday spaces like a living room or bed and reacted honestly: "Wow, that's strong."
When a chat came in asking, "My thighs are pretty thick. Will it fit?", the male host rolled up his pants and tried it on right away. When someone asked, "Isn't it loud?", he held the mic up to the motor so viewers could hear the actual sound. As a result, the purchase conversion rate of customers who watched live was 2 to 3 times higher than regular store traffic, and visitors who used to leave in 10 to 20 seconds stayed for 5 to 10 minutes or more. Juhee Lee, Team Lead, Online Sales, summed up Pulio's goal: "not a live that sells well, but a live people come back to."
R2W: When fans become customers, and customers grow the brand
Apparel brand R2W has gone live on its own online store every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. for four years. It ran over 100 shows in the past year alone, and cumulative viewers have passed 380,000. Instead of big goals, CEO Siyoung Kim pointed to "setting small goals for frequent lives and stacking up small wins" as the secret. Keeping both the broadcast crew and editing in-house also cut costs, which helped them stay consistent.
R2W runs different lives for different goals. Lives on external platforms bring in new customers, regular lives on its own store bring it closer to loyal shoppers, and private live shows for just 200 to 300 VIPs deepen loyalty. Within 12 hours of each show, the team edits it into per-product short-form videos and places them at the top of the product detail page, which Kim named as the most effective feature. Adding targeted ads to promote upcoming lives took viewership from a usual 6,000 to 7,000 up to 30,000.
Hana Bank: How do you talk with customers about complex finance on live?
Hana Bank's live channel, LIVE Hana, started with deposit and savings sales and has since expanded to financial service guides, financial information such as inheritance and gifting, voice phishing prevention and even recruiting sessions. Hana Bank was the first in Korea's financial sector to host a recruiting session on live.
Hyunseung Ha, Deputy General Manager, Digital Finance Department, said financial products are "products that need explaining," which makes them a good fit for live. By showing the sign-up screen and answering questions like interest-rate terms on the spot, sign-ups through live typically grew 10 to 20 times. A K League championship savings show broadcast live from Daejeon World Cup Stadium brought in 15,745 new accounts, 25 times more than the previous business day. "The question behind our live planning changed from 'What should we sell?' to 'What should we talk about with customers, and how?'" Ha said.
MUSINSA: MUSINSA Live, beyond the line between content and commerce
Moeul Kim, Head of Commerce Marketing Division at MUSINSA, started with where the MUSINSA name came from: a content community known for having "tons of sneaker photos." People gathered there, and sales came later. MUSINSA Live, which began in 2020 with editors' styling content, followed the same path. It has aired 1,668 shows in six years, and live GMV grew about 5x, from about 10 billion KRW (about US$7.1M) in 2021 to about 50 billion KRW (about US$35.7M) in 2025.
Since 2024, MUSINSA has built custom formats for brands worried that going live would make them look like a discount channel: Shoecase, which shows how shoes fit like you're in a store; Identity Live for luxury brands, which talks about brand history and identity instead of price; and Director's Live, featuring the brand's own directors. Nike, New Balance, Polo and Coach did their first lives on MUSINSA in these formats, and New Balance's running shoe show hit about 200% of its GMV target.
What drew the most attention at the demo booths?
Crowds packed the 7 demo booths over lunch and during breaks. The Multi-Host and AI chatbot booths fielded the most questions. Because Multi-Host lets headquarters and stores, or brands and influencers, broadcast together on one screen, attendees exploring collaborative lives kept coming by. For a full look at all 7 demo booths, see Video Commerce Summit 2026 demo booth preview.
Frequently asked questions
Q. When and where was Video Commerce Summit 2026 held?
It was held on Friday, October 2, 2026, at SKY31 on the 31st floor of Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul. 330 people from about 150 leading Korean companies across fashion, beauty, e-commerce and retail attended, and about 100 people from customers in Japan watched online.
Q. Which companies presented?
Shoplive (CEO Kiyoung Kim and CTO Kyuwon Lee), Meta Korea, istyle (operator of @cosme in Japan), Pulio, R2W, Hana Bank and MUSINSA led 8 sessions in total.
Q. What did the speakers all emphasize?
That live works as a channel for real-time conversations that build customer relationships, not as a discount broadcast. Speakers agreed that conversion and repeat purchases both grew when they answered chat questions right away, went live consistently at set times and fed customer feedback from live into their next plans.
Q. How did attendees follow the @cosme session, which was in Japanese?
Shoplive provided AI speech-recognition-based real-time translated subtitles in Korean, English and Japanese. The livestream to Japan also carried the Korean presentations with Japanese subtitles.
Q. Which features drew the most interest on site?
Multi-Host, which lets several people in different locations appear together in one live show, and the AI chatbot, which answers viewer questions instantly. AI Creative Studio, which turns a single product URL into an ad video, also welcomed visitors from 28 companies at its booth.
๐ฐ Related news
[Fashionbiz, in Korean] Shoplive wraps up Video Commerce Summit 2026
[Byline Network, in Korean] Shoplive unveils Multi-Host and AI chatbot, expanding its video commerce features
[CosMorning, in Korean] "Wallets open the moment they watch": The power of video shaking up retail
