Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the very structure of consumer choice. Consumers no longer type the product they want into a search bar to make a purchase. They are moving to a mode of consuming spaces and tastes by viewing platform-recommended content and following brands that creators have experienced. It is an era where "why did I come to choose this product" matters more than "what should I buy."
AI is both changing how consumers choose and further spreading experience- and taste-centered consumption. Consumers now value more what experiences and emotions a product offers, and how much it allows them to express their tastes and identity, than a product's features or price. AI is making this taste-driven consumption more precise based on individuals' 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 created? – New conditions for hit products" to assess the future of the consumer and distribution industries amid these changes. The forum will spotlight how AI, content, space, fandom, and personalization technologies influence consumer choice, and how corporations are creating new hit products and brand experiences.
The forum will first examine the fundamental changes in consumption patterns. In the shift from search-centered consumption to recommendation and discovery-centered consumption, how should platform and brand strategies change? It will also look at new commerce strategies that enable consumers to discover tastes and products they had not recognized.
James Jang, CEO of Gmarket, who will deliver the keynote, will examine how AI recommendation technology and content-based commerce are reshaping the consumer experience, and how platforms are intervening in consumers' choice processes.
Next, Maeng Ji-seon, senior business development manager for enterprise at AWS, will share cases of global corporations' AI transformations under the theme "AX strategy insights for the retail and consumer goods industry." The talk will analyze how Generative AI and data-driven personalization technologies are being used on the ground in the distribution and consumer goods industries, and how global corporations are preparing for the AI era.
Yeo Myeong-rang, former head of the Food Division at Lotte Wellfood and a data marketing expert who helped create 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 sophisticated 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 makes 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 endure long lines to visit popup stores and go wild for experiential content. The session will also examine how the "experience collectors" trend—consuming meaning, fun, and symbolism over product function—is spreading.
How content and fandom drive consumption will also be a key topic. CJ OnStyle will present a success case that combined content and commerce through mobile live commerce. Seong Dong-hun, head of the Platform Division in the Commerce Unit at CJ ENM, will share strategies for connecting celebrities, content, and commerce to increase consumers' time on platform and purchase conversion rates.
The afternoon sessions will look category 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 the Platform SU at GS Retail, will give a lecture titled "In the AI era, the conditions for a chosen meal: experience consumption created by chef IP collaborations." The talk will introduce how chef IP and brand experiences are creating new consumption as the restaurant industry is reorganized around people and stories rather than food itself.
Joo Jin-myeong, chief financial officer (CFO) of 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 simple movement to consumption that reveals personal tastes and lifestyle, the session will explain how AI recommendation services and content platforms are changing travel experiences.
From TikTok, Park Sang-hyeop, ecommerce client partner, will present growth strategies in the fashion and beauty categories under the theme "The conditions for chosen K-brands, the new growth structure created by TikTok Shop."
The final session will examine offline space strategies under the theme "A new formula for creating stores that draw lines." Shin Ji-hye, a trade area expert and managing director at STS Development, will present various cases to show how spaces that people make time to visit are created, and how content, experience, and flow design affect consumers' time on site 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 experience in various space planning fields, including Yeonhui-dong cafe street and local trade area projects, will discuss how spaces that people go out of their way to visit are born and what the new success formula is for offline consumption.
This forum will assess how the structure of consumer choice is changing in the AI era and offer direction on how brands and the distribution industry should create new growth opportunities. It is expected to provide a panoramic view of the key keywords driving today's consumption—from AI recommendation technology to experience consumption, content, fandom, and space strategies. We look forward to our readers' strong interest and participation.
▲ Event name: 2026 Consumer and Retail Forum
▲ Topic: "In the AI era, how are choices created?" - 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
▲ Participation 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