Naver’s shopping app surges, with Naver Plus Store adding 990,000 users

[Financial News] Naver’s shopping app, Naver Plus Store, is continuing to grow rapidly, drawing in users at a fast pace. Last October, it ranked first among mobile apps in South Korea for monthly user growth, strengthening its position as an independent shopping platform.
According to IGAWorks’ MOBILEINDEX on the 3rd, Naver Plus Store added 990,000 users in October compared with the previous month, the largest increase among all apps. Its growth was greater than that of ChatGPT, which ranked second with 770,000 additional users, and NAVER Map, which ranked third with 670,000.
It also led in new installations. Naver Plus Store ranked first in the shopping category, with 1.17 million new installations in October. That was 410,000 more than Temu, which ranked second with 760,000, and more than Karrot’s 480,000 and Coupang’s 440,000.
Since launching as a standalone app in March last year, Naver Plus Store has steadily expanded its user base. At first, the launch of a separate shopping app drove a large number of new installations, but the subsequent challenge was to attract active users and encourage them to return. The recent consistent top rankings for user growth and new installations suggest that the platform is both expanding its existing user base and attracting new customers.
The strategy of combining AI-powered personalized recommendations with membership and delivery benefits is cited as a factor behind Naver Plus Store’s growth. It uses shopping data, including users’ interests and purchase histories, to suggest suitable products to each person, while linking Naver Plus Membership benefits with delivery services to make shopping more convenient.
AI recommendations are also translating into actual purchases. According to Naver, the share of Naver Plus Store’s transaction value generated through AI recommendations exceeded 50% for the first time in May. Naver also expanded its AI-powered shopping experience by officially launching its shopping AI agent this June, after introducing it as a beta service in February. The agent identifies users’ intentions and shopping context, analyzes product information and purchase reviews, and suggests suitable products. Naver is advancing its shopping services beyond personalized product recommendations toward conversational AI that helps users discover products and make purchase decisions.
Naver is expected to focus on attracting more users and strengthening its shopping app’s competitiveness by improving the convenience of product discovery through AI recommendations and enhancing membership and delivery benefits.
An industry official said, “Connecting new installations to actual purchases and encouraging users to return are key challenges for sustaining Naver Plus Store’s growth.”
[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter