Mid-sized Companies in the Funeral Service Industry Expand External Activities

Kyowon Life and Daemyung Station Expand Services and Intensify External Activities Based on Increased Advance Payments

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] In the era of 6 million subscribers to domestic funeral service companies, the number of companies is decreasing while the number of subscribers is increasing, leading to a market restructuring centered on large companies. Accordingly, the funeral service industry's external activities are also increasing.

According to the related industry on the 17th, as the scale of advance payments expanded, the asset size of the funeral service industry last year was 5.2129 trillion KRW, showing a 13.41% increase compared to 4.5964 trillion KRW the previous year. The remarkable progress of Kyowon Life and Daemyung Station, whose asset sizes increased based on the growth of advance payments, stands out. Kyowon Life increased its assets from 296.2 billion KRW last year to 451.1 billion KRW, showing a growth rate of 52.25%, and Daemyung Station also increased its assets from 260.6 billion KRW the previous year to 374.2 billion KRW, a 43.61% increase.

In the funeral service industry, where a duopoly has been formed between Boram Funeral Service and Freed Life, Kyowon Life and Daemyung Station, emerging as challengers, have successfully settled in the funeral service industry with strong support from their parent companies Kyowon and Daemyung, respectively, and are increasing their presence through new strategies such as external activities. First, Kyowon Life provides education and language training conversion services through collaboration with group affiliates. Subscribers can convert the total amount of their existing subscription products into Red Pen services or complete collections, or choose a language training package. Additionally, conversion to wedding and cruise services is also possible. Recently, by acquiring Yeongdeungpo National Funeral Hall, it became a company owning five directly managed funeral halls. Furthermore, it is expanding its activity areas through business agreements with Freed Life and Good Life.

Daemyung Station achieved great success in 2015 with a home appliance bundled product without an offline sales organization. Through collaboration with group affiliates, it has strengthened its membership services and offers various products tailored to lifestyles such as leisure, cruises, travel, cultural performances, and weddings. Recently, by participating as a vice-chair company of the newly launched Korea Funeral Service Industry Association, it has begun full-scale external activities. Based on support from their parent companies, these two companies, although not the main affiliates within their groups, are rapidly increasing advance payments through affiliate collaboration. Through this, they are each gaining attention as new cash cows within their groups.

Meanwhile, this year is expected to be the year when the funeral service industry's advance payment scale enters the 6 trillion KRW range, and based on 6 million subscribers, consumer expectations for each company's social responsibility and ethical management are expected to rise.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.