Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- This year's Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest annual electronics exhibition, took an innovative approach in selecting its event venue by going fully online. Consumer Technology Association, the host of the show, made the decision due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some 2,000 companies will operate virtual showrooms to attract online visitors until January 14.

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that was held in Las Vegas has traditionally been an annual gathering event for investors and tech companies. People would visit booths and showrooms to socialize, discuss investment and make purchases. However, because the global event is being held online, business meetings also take place in a non-face-to-face manner through emails, video calls and online messengers. Some companies find it harder to search and visit online showrooms than in previous years when they could just visit actual booths.

"There is a clear difference between an online event and an offline event regarding the way investors find their way to showrooms and booths," an executive from a South Korean venture capitalist company spoke on the condition of anonymity. He added that there are clear limitations in the online method. The executive said that investors and companies from countries with poor network infrastructure will have a hard time setting up business meetings.

Meanwhile, there are a few that think the non-face-to-face meeting method has become the industry trend fit for the pandemic era. "Now is the era in which digital transformation has become the main keyword in every sector," an industry official said. The official pointed out that those who fail to adapt to the new business environment will eventually die out while others selectively and effectively collect information at CES to nurture their businesses.

[This article was originally written in Korean by Aju news reporter Jang Moon-ki]