Gwangjin-gu Abandons In-House Delivery App Development and Joins Seoul City's 'Zero Delivery Union'

Considering Functionality Match, Efficiency, and Budget Savings, Seoul City Joins Public Delivery App...Plan to Support Small Businesses with 500 Million Won Budget Savings

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwangjin-gu (District Mayor Kim Seon-gap) has decided to cancel the development of the public delivery app ‘Gwangjin Narumi,’ which was promoted to alleviate the difficulties of small business owners caused by COVID-19, and to join the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s public-private partnership-based ‘Zero Delivery Union.’

In April, the district decided to develop ‘Gwangjin Narumi’ to resolve the hardships of self-employed and small business owners struggling with high commissions in the existing delivery industry. Through the selection of a platform construction operator, the service was planned to start in September. However, since the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ‘Zero Delivery Union’ shares the same purpose and functions as ‘Gwangjin Narumi,’ the district decided to actively cooperate with it.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government’s ‘Zero Delivery Union’ is a ‘public-private partnership’ between the city and existing private delivery app operators. It provides practical support to small food service businesses suffering from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic by offering a low brokerage fee of up to 2%, which aligns with the policy intent of ‘Gwangjin Narumi.’

Additionally, payments can be made using the Gwangjin Love Gift Certificate, which offers a 7% discount, allowing consumers to order food at reduced prices. It also supports various payment methods such as Zero Pay, credit/debit cards, and cash, making its functions identical to those of ‘Gwangjin Narumi.’

Accordingly, after reviewing the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s public app development, Gwangjin-gu decided to halt all ongoing processes after careful consideration of the functional equivalence, efficiency, budget savings, and future management costs.

The district plans to actively promote the activation of Seoul’s ‘Zero Delivery Union’ to the Food Service Association and local residents by encouraging small business owners to register as franchisees and upload menus to support local small businesses.

A total of 16 delivery companies participate in the ‘Zero Delivery Union,’ and any small business owner with a business location in Gwangjin-gu capable of delivery, including restaurants, cafes, and neighborhood marts, can join as a franchisee.

Business operators wishing to apply can visit the ‘Zero Delivery Union’ website, select their preferred delivery app company, and enter franchise information such as business registration number, address, and contact details.

Consumers can order food using their preferred app among the participating delivery companies. When paying online with the Gwangjin Love Gift Certificate, they can receive an immediate 10% discount (up to 2,000 KRW per day, with a total limit of 50,000 KRW) until the budget is exhausted.

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, said, “We proactively promoted the development of a delivery app to alleviate the difficulties faced by self-employed and small business owners due to COVID-19. However, since the ‘Zero Delivery Union’ developed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government was judged to have the same purpose and functions as what Gwangjin-gu intended, we decided to cancel it. Nevertheless, I believe that by promoting ‘Gwangjin Narumi,’ we played a significant role in encouraging self-reflection within the delivery industry and in leading metropolitan governments to develop delivery apps.”

He added, “The 500 million KRW budget saved from the cancellation will be used to support small business owners. I hope that this public delivery app development will help reduce the delivery brokerage fee burden on small business owners and assist them in overcoming economic difficulties, and that we can all wisely get through these challenging times together and soon return to normal daily life.”

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