GS Home Shopping, the operator of the nation’s No. 1 home shopping brand GS Shop, aims focus more resources into its soaring mobile business.

About 20 percent of GS Shop customers shop using a mobile phone or tablet PC. Mobile sales began exceeding those based on PCs in May.

In the first half of this year, the company logged 285.5 billion won ($279.9 million) in mobile sales. The figure is expected to reach some 800 billion won by the end of this year, almost triple the 278.9 billion won from last year.

In a bid to continue the upward trend and seek synergy between traditional TV and emerging mobile channels, GS Shop said it would adopt a more aggressive “mobile first” strategy. 

GS Shop was the first home shopping channel to communicate with TV viewers through mobile messengers like Kakao Talk so that customers can ask real-time questions to the show hosts.

The so-called Visual ARS, an automatic response service that displays the ordering process on the customer’s smartphone screen, is getting positive reviews from users, along with the popular mobile gift cards.

The company, which operates a customer service center for mobile customers only, has recently opened a logistics center dedicated exclusively to handling mobile orders.

The facility, which started operating in April, reduces delivery times and improves overall service quality. As mobile orders are mostly small, low-priced items, the center offers specialized packaging and delivery services.

Along with beefing up the mobile business, GS Shop is also ramping up efforts to expand its presence in overseas markets.

It has entered countries including China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Turkey in recent years, and has already achieved notably high sales in China and India.

In November, the company plans to set up a new home shopping channel in Malaysia, the largest market in Southeast Asia, along with a local partner, Astro Media Group.

“GS Shop is repeating its success story in overseas markets. We will be adopting our enhanced mobile strategy to global businesses,” said Kim Won-sik, vice president and head of overseas business at GS Shop.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)