Hyundai Home Shopping will start running an around-the-clock TV channel in Australia next month, a first for a South Korean home shopping business even as an increasing number of its rivals are tapping overseas markets.

After making an AU$45 million ($31.65 million) investment in December last year to establish ASN, the home shopping operator said it would launch Open Shop on Aug. 1 on Channel 75.

To ensure high broadcasting standards, the company has partnered with Seven Network, Australia’s leading privately owned broadcaster in terms of ratings and advertising revenue, which currently runs eight of the country’s 30 terrestrial channels. 

This is not the first time Hyundai Home Shopping has entered an overseas market. 

In 2003, the company launched a Chinese channel after acquiring a 50 percent stake in Guangzhou-based Hongya Shopping. But within three years, it withdrew from the business as a result of weak sales. It resumed operations with another Chinese partner in 2011, but conflicts with its local partner led to business suspension in 2016. 

In 2015 Hyundai tapped Vietnam and Thailand markets, eventually moving into Taiwan last year. In each case it employed a joint venture business structure.

Hyundai Home Shopping said it chose Australia as its next destination considering the consumers’ spending habits and per capita income.

The country’s per capita income was $57,204, No. 11 in the world last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. 

Its credit card usage and internet penetration rates are around 85 percent and 87 percent, respectively, making it easier for a TV home shopping culture to take root, the company said.

“Based on the expertise we built up in Korea, we are going to introduce the perks of Korean-style TV home shopping such as free delivery, speedy parcel service and interest-free installment payment, differentiating ourselves from other channels with competitiveness,” said a company official. 

The firm said Open Shop would be available in five cities to begin with, including Sydney and Melbourne, and would expand to all cities in Australia by 2021 with an accumulated sales target of 100 billion won.

Besides Hyundai Home Shopping, other Korean home shopping businesses have been expanding overseas in recent years, using localization strategies to attract different consumers with high-quality products at reasonable prices. They also focus on selling products manufactured by small and medium-sized enterprises, in line with a 2013 agreement between the Korean Commission for Corporate Partnership and the Small and Medium Business Administration to support SMEs through home shopping. 

Currently, the country’s major home shopping businesses, including CJ Home Shopping and GS Home Shopping, operate channels in China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)