LG Electronics goes all-out to boost global B2B operations

Cho Joo-wan attends ISE 2023, Europe’s largest display exhibition, in Barcelona, Spain. [Photo provided by LG Electroncis]

Cho Joo-wan, chief executive officer of LG Electronics Inc., made a tour of Europe and the U.S. to seek breakthroughs in the world’s business-to-business (B2B) markets amid challenging business conditions.

According to LG Electronics on Wednesday, Cho took a business trip to Spain and the U.S. from Feb. 1 to 8. During the trip, he explored growth strategies on B2B and discussed measures for enhanced cooperation with partners.

As the first part of his trip, Cho traveled to Barcelona in Spain and attended ISE 2023, Europe’s largest display exhibition, where he met with the CEO of ODEON, a global movie theater chain. The two CEOs toured major theaters equipped with LG Cinema LEDs and discussed mid- and long-term partnerships and current challenges in the Information Display (ID) business.

The ID business is one of the B2B sectors in which LG Electronics has focused on. LG Transparent OLED Signage, the company’s signature technology, is designed to show objects behind the screen, as described in its name. It can be used as an exhibition screen for pieces of media art, promoting broader use by not only galleries but also hotels and stores where interaction with consumers is important.

In expanding the ID business worldwide, Cho plans to strengthen the company’s software capabilities to meet diverse needs of the consumers. LG Electronics is expected to increase sales of its services with its cloud-based ID service platform LG Pro:Cloud.

“LG Electronics has to provide exclusive consumer experience through in-depth research on key value chains of every consumer group by industry,” said Cho in his message to employees. “We will work hard to provide customized services for consumers they have never experienced.”

Cho attending this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES2023) in Las Vegas in early January. [Photo by Yonhap]

After the schedules in Barcelona, Cho traveled to Atlanta in the U.S.to attend the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Expo 2023, North America’s largest heating and air conditioning industry exhibition.

“To become a world-class player, we must suggest brilliant consumer experience with our leading technology in home appliances. It’s time to do our best to become the air-conditioning powerhouse in both advanced and emerging markets,” said Cho.

LG Electronics said it will seek ways to strengthen its market share in Europe and North America as well as the fast-growing Latin American markets by developing heating and cooling systems specific to local environments and expanding infrastructure for service and maintenance.

Before the recent trip, Cho attended this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January to discuss electric vehicle business projects with LG’s strategic partners, such as General Motors, and Magna.

Investors are welcoming LG Electronics’ aggressive moves to bolster its presence in the B2B market. The company’s stock price rose more than 20 percent this year as of Wednesday.

“Vehicle component solutions (VS) and business solutions (BS) performances will improve in the first quarter on the back of a rise in EV component operations in Europe and B2B sales,” said Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities.