CJ ONSTYLE is moving to significantly expand its "creator commerce" business, which converts creators' fan bases into purchases. The company plans to cultivate 100,000 commerce-focused creators by 2030 and lift related transaction volume to 35 times the level recorded last year, the first year of the business. The strategy makes the business a next-generation growth engine as consumers increasingly buy products based on creators' expertise and credibility.
CJ ONSTYLE held a media day for the Creator Commerce Festival Korea (CCFK) 2026 at COEX in Seoul's Gangnam district on the 22nd. At the event, Sung Dong-hoon, head of the platform division at CJ ENM's commerce unit, said the company aims to raise creator commerce's share of mobile content commerce transaction volume to 50% by 2030, from 9% last year. That means restructuring its content commerce business, currently centered on live and short-form video, around creator commerce.
Creator commerce links the content and fan bases held by YouTubers and influencers to product purchases. To build up the business, CJ ONSTYLE last month launched a business platform called ONTNER. Through ONTNER, creators can receive support across the entire process, from product discovery and matching to content production, sales, settlement, delivery and customer service.
Where creators were previously used simply to promote or sell products, CJ ONSTYLE now intends to help them broaden their business scope beyond advertising into affiliate marketing, group buying, private brand development and overseas expansion.
For example, a creator who specializes in introducing electronics was previously limited to explaining and promoting the performance of specific products. Going forward, with support from CJ ONSTYLE, that creator can readily run group-buying campaigns or affiliate marketing. Beyond that, the creator can jointly develop products drawing on their expertise with a brand, or expand into their own private brand business.
In this process, CJ ONSTYLE plans to make active use of artificial intelligence and data analysis technology. Its proprietary AI analyzes creators' social media content and follower characteristics, then combines that with product information and actual purchase data to connect creators with suitable brands or products.
CJ ONSTYLE is focusing on creator commerce because online shopping behavior has been shifting from "purpose-driven shopping," in which consumers search directly for products they need, to "discovery shopping," in which they encounter products through content and come to feel a need for them. As a result, the expertise and fan base of the person introducing a product are having a greater influence on purchase decisions.
Kim Do-hyeon, a professor in the business administration department at Kookmin University, said that when buying experience goods such as cosmetics, consumers previously made purchase decisions based on reviews and ratings because qualities like how a product spreads on the skin were hard to know in advance, but that recommendations from creators with expertise and credibility now influence those judgments.
CJ ONSTYLE plans to cultivate 100,000 creators and grow transaction volume to establish itself as the leading company in Korea's creator commerce market. The company also laid out a blueprint for expanding the business model overseas, aiming to widen overseas consumer access to Korean lifestyle products such as K-beauty, K-fashion and K-living.
"By combining CJ ONSTYLE's competitiveness in content commerce with our data and AI capabilities, we will set a new standard for creator commerce grounded in trust and expertise," Sung said. "Going further, we will grow into a platform that curates the K-lifestyle in global markets."