Korean retailers are seeking to provide customized and real-time shopping solutions for consumers using artificial intelligence in hopes of racking up sales in a sluggish retail economy.

SK Planet‘s online open market platform 11st kicked off the trend with the commercial release of a chatbot named Baro on Wednesday. Baro is designed to complement 11st’s digital concierge service that allows for real-time product consultations through the 11st smartphone app. It is currently available for products in the digital and home appliance categories.


Using a deep learning algorithm and word embedding technology, Baro can detect patterns in consumer questions to find appropriate product information, according to SK Planet. For example, if a consumer indicates they live alone and are looking for a rice cooker, Baro provides information on small-sized rice cookers without having to be asked specifically about size.

So far, Baro is running based on consumer data accumulated over the past seven months including product specifications most commonly sought out by consumers who use the digital concierge service.

SK Planet plans to continue developing the chatbot to eventually serve as a personal shopper for all of 11st‘s customers.

Shinsegae Department Store has utilized artificial intelligence to better target its marketing messages. Since Thursday, Shinsegae Department Store has employed a new program called S Mind on its smartphone app to show each customer special promotions and products that are customized to their shopping preferences.

Developed over the past four years completely by Shinsegae, the S Mind program uses big data collected on 5 million consumers to determine preferred brands and products that are then displayed first on the Shinsegae Department Store app.

Shinsegae Department Store said that in the future, the service plans to add shopping data from outside the department store as well through partnerships with credit card companies like Shinhan Card and Samsung Card. The company hopes that these targeted advertising strategies will add more than 100 billion won ($89.5 million) in annual sales.

Lotte Department Store is also hoping to roll out a shopping adviser it calls a “recommendation bot” this December. In partnership with IBM, Lotte has created a high-level chatbot that can answer questions, analyze customer purchasing trends and recommend products based on the latest market trends. 

The chatbot will utilize both customer big data and data from social media reflecting fashion trends and even celebrity fashions. 

According to Lotte Department Store, the chatbot service will be later expanded to Lotte’s other retail companies as well, including Lotte Mart, Lotte Super and Lotte.com.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)