“We spent 30 million won on advertising, but we didn’t even get 10 actual purchases.”
This is the complaint of a cosmetics brand marketer. They sent products to an influencer with 1 million followers, but all they got in return were pretty pictures. The number of views for the promotional posts was high, but there were almost no purchase conversions. Many companies are pouring huge amounts of money into SNS marketing. However, the actual sales link is still unclear.
Going global is daunting. It is difficult to find local influencers, and even if you do find them, it is difficult to judge whether they are the right creators for your product. Language and cultural differences often lead to content that is different from what you intended. In the end, many small and medium-sized businesses have no choice but to give up overseas marketing or rely on ineffective methods.
In this reality, the solution proposed by Arbaim CEO Seol Hyeon-gyu (45) is drawing attention. Through the global review commerce platform 'greyd' utilizing a network of reviewers in 170 countries, a content ecosystem that leads to actual purchases rather than general exposure was established.
Arbaim, founded in 2020, is a 15-person startup with offices in Dosan-daero and Pangyo. It started with a SNS-based video review marketing solution and is solving the disconnection problem between the advertising-distribution-reviewer ecosystem with AI. It is expanding its presence in the B2B and B2C markets by successfully conducting agreements and linked review campaigns with Thai government agencies.
From Advertising to Verification: A Paradigm Shift in Review Commerce
“Existing SNS marketing was focused on exposure. However, greyd is different. It quantifies the conversion-inducing power of the content itself.”
What CEO Seol Hyun-gyu emphasizes is performance. The goal is not simply to be exposed a lot, but to create content that leads to purchases. To this end, the 'G6 Review Evaluation Index' was developed. It measures the purchase inducement power of reviews through six items: trustworthiness, context, empathy, CTA (purchase inducement message), commerce connectivity, and cultural fit.
The results were clear. “After implementing the G6 standard, campaign review approval rates increased by 28%, and conversion rates more than tripled,” he says. Reviews were transformed from simple testimonials to trusted assets driven by data.
Trust measured by G6 indicators, the power of global matching created by AI
Greyd’s core asset is its network of reviewers spanning 170 countries around the world. It’s not just about having a large number of reviewers. Rather than the number of followers, it combines AI matching and manual review based on content completeness, communication with fans, and cultural fit. Afterwards, it manages quality in the long term by accumulating G6 history and feedback data.
“We are not a content platform, but a partner. We work together on everything from product analysis to deriving target consumer insights, video planning, and reviewer briefings.”
The actual results are also impressive. The US TikTok campaign collaborated with a makeup artist and recorded an average of 50,000 views per video and a conversion rate of 4.2%. The Indian campaign emphasized emotional storytelling and life-related usage methods, achieving 2.4 million views and a conversion rate of 3.7%.
“North America is a market for individual-centric creators, Thailand is a public-affiliated B2B campaign, and India is a test bed for conversion experiments.”
He said, “In Thailand, we created a public-private collaboration model by participating as a partner in the government-affiliated OSMEP’s SME export support project,” and explained, “We do not select countries based solely on market size. We comprehensively consider factors such as K-content acceptance, SNS utilization, and the maturity of the creator ecosystem.”
Beyond content to infrastructure, a leap towards a commerce OS
Arbaim's services are divided into two directions: corporate customized video marketing solutions (B2B) and reviewer-led marketplaces (B2C). B2B provides everything from product planning to content production and performance reporting, and generates revenue through project unit prices and performance-based fees. B2C is a structure where reviewers can freely create content and earn revenue. It prevents reviewer defections through settlement transparency, AI matching, and a level-based reward system.
CEO Seol Hyun-gyu’s ultimate goal is not simply a review platform. He defines it as “infrastructure for trust-based distribution.”
“The future of review commerce is technology that can ‘trade trust.’ We need trust as data, not content.”
To this end, greyd is accumulating video review data to improve product recommendation algorithms, automate advertising execution, predict demand, and expand its global partner network. Starting from simple review content, it has now taken its first step toward a global commerce OS.
Many startups are shouting about going global, but there are few cases where they have designed a content context between local and global, verified it with data, and created a structure that connects it to an actual contract. CEO Seol Hyeon-gyu emphasized one thing throughout the conversation.
“A good review goes beyond emotion to create conversion, and it starts with ‘trust.’”
Each review becomes data, which in turn creates trust, creating a virtuous cycle. It remains to be seen how far the network of trust connecting 170 countries will expand.
※ This interview is part of a series planned in collaboration with startup media Venture Square, targeting excellent startups recommended by the Association in celebration of its 30th anniversary. It will be divided into three areas: 'AI·Data·Digital Solutions', 'Bio·Food·Local Brands', and 'Content·Culture·Web 3.0'.
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