Kakao, Ahead of Split, Expands Commerce Links With Small Businesses... Taps Agentic AI Intersection
IT DAILY ·
✦ AI Summary
Kakao is expanding projects that link its commerce services with local small businesses and online sellers.
On the 16th, Kakao said it will hold a special promotion, "Regular Shops From Everywhere," on Kakao Makers.
Kakao also unveiled the "2026 TOPS Kakao Networking Day" for small businesses on Tok Deal and plans to place KakaoTalk, AI, advertising, and commerce under Kakao AI through a spin-off.
Kakao is expanding projects that link its commerce services with local small businesses and online sellers as it moves toward a spin-off. The structure involves selling products from local shops through the Kakao Makers model and supporting advertising and marketing for sellers on Tok Deal. The goal of the business is to revitalize local commercial districts and nurture small businesses.
The expansion of these initiatives is also increasing the number of products traded within Kakao and the number of sellers on its platform. Kakao AI, which launches next year, will hold KakaoTalk, AI, advertising, and commerce together. As a result, the link between its existing commerce business and its agentic AI strategy, which handles ordering, reservations, and payments, is also coming into focus.
Kakao said on the 16th that it will hold a special promotion, "Regular Shops From Everywhere," on Kakao Makers. The event runs through the 31st of this month. A total of 12 food and beverage shops in Gangwon that were included in the "Project Regular Shop" discovery list, as well as 8 shops from Gongju and Mokpo, are taking part in the promotion.
There are 20 participating businesses and more than 50 products on sale. Kakao is supporting the participating businesses with entry to Makers, promotion operations, and marketing expenses.
Kakao is linking online sales with offline visits. The service, called "Gokgok," which is operated by Kakao, involves local governments, local creators, and small business owners, and it includes functions for introducing local shops, operating walking routes, and running offline events. In the Gongju example, searching for "Gokgok Walking Trail Gongju" on Kakao Map lets users check routes centered on local shops. Also, a Tok digital card is issued when users visit 12 designated locations, and tiered rewards are provided for visiting 12 designated locations.
Kakao also unveiled the "2026 TOPS Kakao Networking Day" on the same day. The event is aimed at small business owners on Tok Deal and is a government-led small business nurturing program conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business Distribution. The support target is 300 small businesses in the food sector, and the program provides e-commerce education and one-on-one consulting. In addition, 60 outstanding sellers will be selected and supported with Tok Deal exclusive deals, special promotions, and Kakao Moment ad cash.
"Regular Shop" and "Gokgok" are mutual growth projects aimed at revitalizing local commercial districts, and their business models differ from TOPS. However, what the projects have in common is the expansion of products and sellers within Kakao Commerce. Kakao is pursuing links between local businesses and products with Makers and Kakao Map, while also providing support for sales and advertising use for existing Tok Deal sellers.
Kakao views its commerce business as an area centered on connecting products and sellers, and has presented it as a key touchpoint in Kakao's agentic AI strategy. In its second-quarter earnings presentation, Kakao said it planned to unveil AI services based on understanding user context and intent. The goal of those AI services is to connect to real actions such as ordering, reservations, and payments.
Kakao said it would pursue partner collaboration in high-frequency areas such as commerce, reservations, travel, and payments as a way to expand its ecosystem. It also directly identified commerce as an area for agentic AI application. This reflects its view that commerce is a field in which agentic AI can lead to real orders, reservations, and payments.
Kakao said that for AI product recommendations to expand into actual purchases, the linking of product, seller, and transaction functions must come first. In that sense, commerce has a dual character: it is both a business area connected to AI services and one of Kakao's existing revenue sources.
Kakao's TokBiz revenue for the second quarter of this year came to KRW 643.2 billion, up 12% from a year earlier. Of that, advertising and subscription revenue was KRW 399.9 billion, up 14%, while commerce revenue from services such as Gifts and Tok Deal was KRW 243.2 billion, up 10%. Combined commerce transaction value rose 9% to KRW 2.7 trillion. Kakao said it had secured a financial foundation to continue AI investment through growth in its platform segment.
Kakao said it is pursuing a plan to divide its business and functions into two companies through a spin-off. On the 16th, Kakao announced the plan to push ahead with the spin-off in an employee "open talk" session, and it is planning the company split for January next year. The two split companies will be named Kakao AI and Kakao X. Through the spin-off next year, the structure that integrates AI, advertising, and commerce into one company will become a reality. Kakao AI will house the KakaoTalk, AI, advertising, and commerce businesses, while Kakao X will take on the role of managing and investing in major affiliates.
Kakao said the purpose of pursuing the spin-off is to secure the speed of execution and a capital allocation system suited to the AI era. One of the reasons for the split was presented as a restructuring of the capital allocation system. A task force made up of key departments including technology, finance, and human resources has been formed, and it is currently handling the practical work for the split.
Kakao plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on December 17 and complete the split on January 1 next year. The expected listing dates for Kakao AI's relisting and Kakao X's changed listing are the 27th of the same month. It will also hold a second meeting with minority shareholders on the 20th and answer shareholder questions related to the spin-off.
Source: IT DAILY · Kim Byeong-ju
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=242246
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Source: IT DAILY
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