Naver has achieved its highest quarterly revenue ever in Q3, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and logistics as its two main growth pillars.
The company reported consolidated revenue of 3.47 trillion won for Q3, a 10.7% increase compared to the same period last year, according to a disclosure on November 12. Operating profit, however, fell by 20.9% to 451.3 billion won due to increased marketing expenses in infrastructure investment, commerce, and offline payment businesses.
Revenue by business segment included 1.95 trillion won from the Naver platform, 487.7 billion won from the financial platform, and 1.03 trillion won from global challenges, marking increases of 7.3%, 14.1%, and 15.9%, respectively, year-on-year.
Naver announced plans to strengthen its growth momentum through an expansion of its AI business and significant investments in logistics. The AI factory aims to secure new revenue streams from global companies while enhancing the competitiveness of its commerce business through increased logistics investment.
The AI factory has already signed supply contracts with its first client, projecting revenue generation from the start of operations next year. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon stated, "We have signed a computing service supply contract worth approximately 2 trillion won with an AI inference company in the U.S., including next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs), and have secured customers for initial volumes by 2027."
Currently, Naver is negotiating additional supply contracts with over ten global AI companies. Choi added, "We plan to pursue long-term contracts with large clients while expanding our customer base to include high-potential global AI firms, thereby reducing dependence on specific clients and ensuring stability and high profitability."
Naver is also enhancing AI services for users. The company plans to launch a personalized AI agent app by the end of the year, integrating its services such as search, shopping, places, reservations, maps, and Naver Pay.
To strengthen delivery competitiveness, Naver will establish a logistics subsidiary and invest approximately 1 trillion won by 2030 to expand its delivery infrastructure centered around leased logistics centers.
Naver will manage logistics center operations and delivery through existing partners while focusing on designing systems and data infrastructure. The strategy emphasizes improving logistics efficiency using AI-based demand forecasting and inventory placement technology rather than direct operation of the delivery network.
Choi emphasized, "We will predict demand based on shopping search data and position inventory closer to users to achieve faster and more efficient delivery with the same infrastructure." Existing partners will handle logistics center operations and actual deliveries, while Naver will oversee system and data infrastructure design.
In Q3, Naver's 'N Delivery' transaction volume increased by 38% year-on-year. The number of early morning delivery centers grew from three to nine in the first half of the year, with early morning delivery transaction volume increasing more than fourfold compared to the previous quarter.
Naver is also enhancing its shopping services, focusing on the Naver Plus Store app and AI-based personalized recommendation features. In Q3, transaction volume from smart stores rose by 6.4% year-on-year, while transaction volume driven by AI recommendations increased by over 50% compared to the previous year.
The use of the shopping AI agent is also expanding. The number of users from March to September increased nearly fivefold, with transaction volume rising about fourfold. Naver plans to pilot a feature in the shopping AI agent that allows users to complete transactions from product exploration to payment in the fourth quarter.
AI utilization is also expanding in the advertising business. According to Naver, the application of AI predictive models in Q3 improved the click-through rate of Powerlink ads by 12% and conversions by 9%. Next year, the company plans to revamp its advertising system and pilot a model that charges advertising fees based on actual transaction performance in sectors such as finance, insurance, and automotive.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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