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[Ktown4u CTO, Baek Myung-seok]

 

"The biggest advantage is the global fandom of K-pop. A large feedback community that allows two-way communication becomes the driving force for continuously enhancing and innovating the platform."

Baek Myung-seok, the Head of System Development at Ktown4u (referred to as Ketafo), shared his outlook on the growth of the global market for K-pop. Ktown4u is an online commerce platform that supplies K-pop albums, goods, etc., to over 243 countries worldwide. They have embarked on developing a global business-to-consumer (B2C) platform capable of accommodating over 200 million K-pop fans globally. Currently, Ktown4u has over 5.3 million platform members in 200 countries, with membership in 6 languages, including English and Chinese, and 6,200 K-pop fan clubs.

In the last five years, Ktown4u has achieved over 15 times growth. While its revenue was a modest 13.4 billion KRW in 2016, it surpassed 200 billion KRW as of last year. In 2020, the global market size for K-pop fandom reached 8 trillion KRW, showing tremendous sustained growth on a global scale. In response, Ktown4u is developing a 'Global K-pop Playground,' where K-pop fans worldwide can enjoy beyond boundaries.

To achieve this, Ktown4u hired IT service development experts in June this year. Baek Myung-seok, with a master's degree in computer science, joined Ktown4u after experiences at global IT venture companies like LG-EDS since 1996, Kakao (formerly Daum Communications), SK Planet, and 11th Street as the development group leader.

Baek said, "I joined Ktown4u with the belief that I can create the company's development culture and processes. I want to experience 'Agile as a whole team' and 'Agile as a business' and settle it in Ktown4u. I think this can lead to the company's success and tremendous growth during this process."

Ktown4u is currently fully engaged in stabilizing and advancing the global platform system. Since Baek joined, the platform has reduced bugs and increased operational efficiency over the last four months. They also worked on stable acceptance of momentary event traffic. Baek mentioned, "Currently, considerable stabilization has been achieved, and we are focusing on the enhancement of the logistics system and e-commerce system through the application of MicroService Architecture (MSA) on public cloud."

In August, Ktown4u introduced a system where up to 850 labelings and automatic packaging of items are done per hour. This is an automated packaging system also used by Amazon and Walmart. Their goal is to enhance the quality and speed of logistics system development, stabilize legacy systems, and improve for various requirements and traffic accommodation by the end of this year. Baek stated, "We need performance improvement and are creating an environment for gradual improvement. When it is achieved, it will be an exciting goal and plan that we are creating together with the members."

Reporter Park Hyo-joo phj20@etnews.com