Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the very structure of consumer choice. Consumers no longer type desired products into a search bar to buy them. They are moving toward consuming spaces and tastes by watching content recommended by platforms and following brands experienced by creators. It is an era when "why this product was chosen" matters more than "what to buy."
AI is changing how consumers choose while also further spreading experience- and taste-centered consumption. Consumers now care more about what experiences and emotions a product provides, and how much it can express their tastes and identity, than about its functions or price. AI is making this taste-driven consumption more sophisticated based on individual behavioral data. It is creating new consumption by recommending interests and products that consumers had not yet recognized.
ChosunBiz will hold the 2026 Consumer and Retail Forum under the theme "In the AI era, how are choices made? – New conditions for hit products" to examine the future of the consumption and distribution industries amid these changes. The forum will focus on how AI, content, space, fandom, and personalization technologies influence consumers' choices, and how corporations are creating new hit products and brand experiences.
The forum will first examine the fundamental changes in consumption patterns. As consumption shifts from search-centered to recommendation and discovery-centered, how should platform and brand strategies change? It will also look at new commerce strategies that help consumers discover tastes and products they had not recognized.
James Jang, CEO of Gmarket, will deliver a keynote address examining how AI recommendation technology and content-based commerce are reshaping the consumer experience, and how platforms are intervening in the consumer decision-making process.
Next, Maeng Ji-seon, head of enterprise business development at AWS, will share cases of global corporations' AI transitions under the theme "AX strategy insights for the retail consumer goods industry." The session will analyze how Generative AI and data-driven personalization technologies are being applied in the field of distribution and consumer goods, and how global corporations are preparing for the AI era.
Yeo Myeong-rang, Director General of the food division at Lotte Wellfood, a data marketing expert behind mega-hit products such as the soju "Saero" and "Chilsung Cider Zero," will also speak. Yeo will introduce how consumer choices are becoming more segmented and refined in the AI era, and how to read consumers' unconscious desires and tastes through data analysis. Practical strategies for creating hit products amid a rapidly changing market environment will also be shared.
In the AI era, the importance of "experience," which moves consumers' emotions and tastes, is growing. As technology has made products easy to replicate, differentiation among brands is being created more by experience, emotion, and content than by function.
Song Su-jin, a professor at Korea University, will analyze why, even in an era when AI recommends everything efficiently, people still endure long lines to visit pop-up stores and go wild for experiential content. The session will also examine how the "experience collectors" trend—consuming meaning, fun, and symbolism more than product function—is spreading.
How content and fandom drive consumption will also be a key topic. CJ OnStyle will present a success case that combines content and commerce through mobile live commerce. Seong Dong-hoon, head of the platform division in the commerce unit at CJ ENM, will share strategies that raise consumers' time-on-platform and purchase conversion rates by linking celebrities, content, and commerce.
The afternoon sessions will look by category at changes in the consumer industry being reshaped around taste, space, and personalization. In the F&B session, Lee Jeong-pyo, head of marketing for Platform SU at GS Retail, will give a lecture titled "In the AI era, conditions for a chosen meal: experience consumption created by chef IP collaborations." The session will introduce how chef IP and brand experiences are creating new consumption as the dining industry is restructured around people and stories rather than food itself.
Joo Jin-myeong, chief financial officer (CFO) at Myrealtrip, will analyze changes in the travel industry under the theme "Complete consolidation of travel experiences: New choices for travelers in the AI era." As travel shifts from mere movement to consumption that reveals personal tastes and lifestyle, the session will explain how AI recommendation services and content platforms are changing travel experiences.
The final session will look at offline space strategies under the theme "A new formula for creating stores that draw lines." Shin Ji-hye, an executive director at STS Development and an expert on commercial districts, will present various cases to show how spaces people make time to visit are created, and how content, experience, and flow design affect consumers' time spent and brand experience.
A discussion will follow with Kim Jong-seok, CEO of Koom Partners; Park Sang-hyeon, CEO of John & Mark; and Oh Jeong-hyeon, deputy CEO of Synergy Tower. Experts with on-the-ground experience in planning spaces such as the Yeonhui-dong café street and local commercial district projects will discuss how spaces that people deliberately visit are created and what the new success formula is for offline consumption.
This forum will diagnose how the structure of consumer choice is changing in the AI era and provide direction on how brands and the distribution industry should create new growth opportunities. From AI recommendation technology to experience consumption, content, fandom, and space strategies, it is expected to be a place that looks together at the key keywords moving today's consumption. We look forward to readers' strong interest and participation.
▲ Event name: 2026 Consumer and Retail Forum
▲ Theme: "In the AI era, how are choices made?" - New conditions for hit products
▲ Date and time: Jun. 16, 2026 (Tue.) 9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
▲ Venue: Grand Ballroom, Westin Josun Hotel, Sogong-dong, Seoul
▲ Registration fee: 150,000 won (early-bird general 110,000 won, students 33,000 won)
▲ Hosted by: ChosunBiz
▲ Registration and inquiries: 02-724-6157, event@chosunbiz.com
▲ Website: e.chosunbiz.com