View of Naver office building. (Photo=Naver)

 

[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Mirae Asset Securities lowered Naver's target stock price from KRW 310,000 to KRW 260,000. This is because of concerns over the sluggish commerce sector. The investment opinion has maintained its buy-off.

"There is a lack of momentum for stock prices in the first half of the year," said Mirae Asset Securities Co. "Although high growth of live commerce is a positive part, there are high concerns over sluggish commerce due to the high growth of e-commerce in China."

Last year, domestic e-commerce in China was estimated at 3.3 trillion won and is expected to grow to 19 trillion won in 2026. However, it is inevitable that major domestic commerce platforms such as Naver will be adversely affected.

"Many of the open market operators that were bringing goods from China and selling them for high fees will begin to be quickly replaced," said Mirae Asset Securities Co. "Most of the same products sold in Ali Express, Temu, Naver and Coupang are three to four times more expensive than domestic platforms."

"Ali Express has recently opened 'K-venue', which sells domestic products, to open a domestic brand," Mirae Asset Securities said. "For brands located on existing domestic platforms, there is a lot of incentive to enter Chinese direct purchase platforms with relatively low fees. Unless they urgently cut fees, there is no way to prevent Korean brands from entering the Chinese platform."

Some predict that stock prices will rebound after it was confirmed that the impact of China's direct purchase platform was limited in commerce indicators to be announced in the first quarter.

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