The global retail industry is increasingly experimenting with live commerce and automation, but adoption remains uneven across regions. While livestream shopping has become a dominant sales channel in parts of Asia, it has yet to gain comparable traction in Western markets. Against that backdrop, Samsung Electronics, a South Korean consumer electronics and semiconductor company, is expanding an approach refined in its home market, betting that artificial intelligence can make the model scalable across borders.
The company is deploying AI-powered virtual hosts to run continuous live-commerce broadcasts in overseas markets as part of a partnership with AnyMind Group. The initiative targets eight markets across Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand, where Samsung aims to integrate its direct-to-consumer strategy with localized, real-time video sales.
The move reflects a broader shift in how consumer brands are approaching digital storefronts. Instead of relying on scheduled campaigns or human-led broadcasts, Samsung is testing a system designed to operate without interruption. AI avatars take on the role of hosts, presenting products and responding to customer input in local languages and accents, effectively turning live commerce into a 24-hour sales channel.
AnyMind has built its business around enabling that type of infrastructure, expanding its footprint in social commerce through acquisitions in markets such as Vietnam and Japan. For Samsung, the partnership provides a way to enter fragmented regional platforms with a unified operating model rather than building separate systems market by market.
The overseas push builds on Samsung’s domestic experience, where it has spent several years developing its own live-commerce platform and strengthening direct sales capabilities. Strong growth in engagement-driven sales reinforced the idea that interactive formats can function not just as marketing tools but as core distribution channels. The introduction of AI removes a key limitation of that model, reducing dependence on human hosts tied to fixed broadcast schedules.
Samsung plans to add roughly 4,450 hours of live-streamed programming per month, distributed through regional platforms including Shopee and TikTok, alongside its own websites in select markets. The system was deployed across multiple countries within weeks, underscoring the company’s focus on operational scale and efficiency.
The strategy points to a potential shift in online retail, where the boundary between content and commerce continues to narrow. An always-on, AI-driven model could reduce reliance on traditional advertising cycles and reshape how products are introduced and sold in real time, raising broader questions about how global e-commerce competition will evolve as automation becomes more deeply embedded in the sales process.
