CJ OnStyle to grow transaction volume 35-fold by 2030, bolstering 'creator commerce'

[Financial News] "We plan to expand creator commerce gross merchandise value (transaction volume) to 35 times its 2025 level—the business's first year—by 2030."
Seong Dong-hun, head of the Platform Division in CJ ENM's Commerce Division (pictured), presented the 'CJ OnStyle NEXT Content Commerce Growth Strategy' at 'Creator Commerce Festival Korea (CCFK) 2026,' held at COEX in Seoul on the 22nd. The plan is to develop creator commerce, which is growing rapidly in global markets, into a full-fledged industry in South Korea as well.
Creator commerce is a business model that uses content created by creators and their fan bases to connect consumers with products, from discovery to purchase. As 'discovery-led, relationship-based shopping'—in which consumers find products through content and decide what to buy based on creators' expertise and trustworthiness—has gained traction, it is drawing attention as a new way to shop.
Although collaborations between creators and brands are active in South Korea, commerce infrastructure to develop them into sustainable businesses is still considered to be at an early stage.
CJ OnStyle is setting out to develop the 'Korean-style creator commerce' market by championing an 'end-to-end' business model that provides integrated support for the entire process, from product planning and content production to sales, logistics and customer service (CS).
First, CJ OnStyle will make active use of its strengths in product planning and content production. It plans to jointly develop products across various categories to suit creators' expertise and the characteristics of their fan bases, and to link content production with sales by drawing on around 100 professional producers and its mobile live-commerce capabilities.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and data technologies will be used to match brands with creators. The approach involves analyzing creators' social media (SNS) content and the characteristics of their followers, then combining that information with product details and actual purchase data to improve the accuracy of matches.
These business operations will be managed through ONTNER, a creator-matching platform launched last month.
CJ OnStyle projects that creator commerce transaction volume this year will be about 3.3 times last year's level, and that the number of creators it collaborates with will be about 23 times as high. Building on this, it plans to cultivate 100,000 creators specializing in commerce by 2030 and raise creator commerce's share of mobile content commerce transactions—including live and short-form content—from 9% last year to 50% by 2030. In the medium to long term, it plans to expand overseas the creator commerce business model it has developed in South Korea.
Division head Seong emphasized, "We will support K-brands' global expansion through content and evolve into a 'K-lifestyle curator' connecting Korea's lifestyle with the world."
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter