'Sold Out 20 Billion KRW of Jongno Sarang Gift Certificates in 7 Months'

According to the June sample survey results, the main usage locations are restaurants, academies, and neighborhood marts in order.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) sold out early the Jongno Love Gift Certificates worth 20 billion won issued this year, about seven months after the sales started on January 17.

The Jongno Love Gift Certificates were introduced to eliminate payment fee burdens for small business owners struggling due to COVID-19 and to provide discount benefits to consumers, thereby revitalizing the local economy.

The sales amount reached 20 billion won, with about 92,000 purchase transactions recorded, approximately 330,000 payment transactions, and currently 13.7 billion won has been used.

According to a sample survey conducted in June this year, the main places where payments were made in large amounts were restaurants (33%), academies (16%), neighborhood marts (10%), convenience stores (9%), and cafes (7%), in that order.

In terms of the number of payment transactions, payments at restaurants and convenience stores accounted for half.

In the first year of issuance, sales were made with discounts up to 15% until June, and although the discount rate was lowered to 7% from July, daily sales still exceeded 100 million won.

As such, it has consistently gained high popularity among consumers and played a significant role in revitalizing the local economy, which has been stagnant due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jongno Love Gift Certificates can be used at about 11,000 Zero Pay affiliated stores in the region and are issued in three mobile denominations: 10,000 won, 50,000 won, and 100,000 won.

They can be used through dedicated applications such as Beeple Zero Pay, Moneytree, CheckPay, Payco, Fint, and Nonghyup All One Bank.

It adopts a contactless payment method using smartphones to prevent infectious diseases, and remote payment is possible anywhere by receiving the QR code screen via text message or other means.

It is an untact payment method optimized for the COVID-19 era, and those who have used it have become repeat purchasers and users of the gift certificates.

A resident of Muak-dong, Mr. G, said, “It was very convenient to pay academy fees without having to visit in person by receiving the QR code screen of the academy via text or SNS and making payments anytime 24 hours a day from home or office.”

In June, Jongno-gu voluntarily responded to a request from the neighborhood association council and paid activity fees (allowances) with Jongno Love Gift Certificates. The neighborhood association took the lead in supporting self-employed business owners through local consumption promotion.

Mayor Kim Young-jong said, “I believe the Jongno Love Gift Certificates, issued for the first time this year, provided discount benefits to consumers with thin wallets and played a faithful role in the good consumption movement that does not burden local self-employed and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19 with payment fees. I thank not only the residents but also many office workers and self-employed people working in Jongno-gu for showing interest in the activation of the gift certificates. We will continue to increase affiliated stores and strive to improve the convenience of using the gift certificates. We will spare no administrative efforts to help small business owners and self-employed people overcome the current difficult economic situation.”

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