Yeonggwang-gun's 'Yeonggwang Sarang Gift Certificate' Cumulative Sales Surpass 30 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeon Seong] The ‘Yeonggwang Love Gift Certificate,’ issued by Yeonggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Kim Jun-seong), is injecting new vitality into the local economy, which has been frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the county on the 20th, the cumulative sales of the gift certificates have exceeded 30 billion KRW (15.6 billion KRW from general issuance, 14.5 billion KRW from policy issuance). In particular, general sales in the first half of this year reached 8.7 billion KRW, nearly 15 times higher than the 600 million KRW recorded in the same period last year.

This achievement is analyzed to be due to the popularization of the card-type gift certificate (Yeonggwang Love Card), which was implemented earlier than in other local governments in the province.

The ‘Yeonggwang Love Card,’ a prepaid rechargeable card that complements the drawbacks of paper gift certificates and adds the convenience of a card, can be issued and recharged via a smartphone application without visiting a financial institution or being restricted by location.

Also, since payments are possible at most stores within the county that have IC card terminals regardless of the type of affiliated gift certificate store, it is evaluated that the card usage by the 30-50 age group, who are familiar with card use, has played a significant role in gift certificate purchases.

By distributing various policy allowances totaling 14.5 billion KRW through the Yeonggwang Love Card during COVID-19, the transparency of usage aligned with the purpose of public allowances has been increased, and the problem of fraudulent distribution of gift certificates that could occur if issued as paper certificates has been fundamentally blocked, greatly aiding the recovery of sales in local commercial districts hit by COVID-19.

Additionally, the county supported all card fees of 0.5% incurred from Yeonggwang Love Card sales at 573 stores affiliated with the ‘Yeonggwang Love Gift Certificate’ with sales under 300 million KRW last year, aiming to alleviate the management difficulties of local small business owners struggling due to COVID-19.

For 94 stores that received policy funds loans due to COVID-19 damage, the county is compensating the interest difference within a 2% range and is discovering and implementing various support policies to help small business owners directly hit by the COVID-19 crisis overcome their difficulties.

A county official said, “Within the budget limits, we will maintain a 10% incentive payment policy for card-type gift certificates until the end of the year, and in preparation for the upcoming Chuseok holiday, we plan to implement a 10% discount policy for paper gift certificates in September and October. We ask that you use the Yeonggwang Love Gift Certificate frequently, as the more you use it, the more it strengthens the local economy and revitalizes neighborhood commercial districts.”

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