Lotte's virtual human Lucy makes successful debut on live commerce

Lotte Home Shopping said on Thursday that its virtual model Lucy will appear in monthly live commerce broadcasts on its official YouTube channel.

Lucy debuted as a live commerce host last month and sold out bags and card holders from the Italian luxury brand Miu Miu within 25 minutes.

The company, after the broadcast on that day, concluded that there would be no problem in hosting live commerce programs, and decided to make Lucy appear regularly every month, starting with the Jan. 31 broadcast. On that day's program, Vivienne Westwood's accessories and bags will be on display.

Lotte Home Shopping introduced Lucy in Feb. 2021 as part of a plan to search for a new growth engine. In September last year, the company signed an agreement with video production company 4by4 to make Lucy a virtual influencer specializing in live commerce hosting.

Lotte Home Shopping plans to expand Lucy's range of activities in several other areas. Last year, she appeared on a TV entertainment program produced by Chorokbaem Media Co., and she also appeared as a presenter at the launch of Ssangyong Motor's sports utility vehicle Torres.

"We plan to expand the range of her activities as an entertainer through further technical refinement," said Lee Bo-hyun, head of Lotte Home Shopping's content division.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com