eBay Korea Presents the Biggest Ever 'Big Smile Day,' the Year's Largest Shopping Festival

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Consumer anticipation is rising for the year’s largest shopping festival, Big Smile Day, held from November 1st on Gmarket, Auction, and G9, operated by eBay Korea. The event has drawn attention each time with industry-leading benefits and is set to return with even greater perks.

Big Smile Day takes place twice a year, in May and November. Major domestic and international brands participate, offering a wide range of products at unbeatable prices?from everyday groceries and essentials to fashion, electronics, digital devices, furniture, and interior goods. The May event recorded the highest sales in Big Smile Day history, with the first day’s transaction volume 33% higher than the previous daily record.

This November’s Big Smile Day will feature even bigger benefits and products. Unlike previous events, a dedicated task force (TF) team conducted direct surveys with consumers to identify the products they most want to purchase during Big Smile Day, reflecting consumer perspectives significantly in the special deals offered. Among these, the most popular items, called ‘Big Smile Day Hero Items,’ will be available daily on Gmarket and Auction.

Participation from well-known brands has also increased. Special discount coupons will be provided in brand-specific sections. Product competitiveness has been enhanced. Brands will offer exclusive discount coupons applicable only in their dedicated sections. Limited-edition products available exclusively on Gmarket, Auction, and G9 will also be offered. Additionally, anticipating growth in hybrid shopping?shopping online with offline pickup?O2O services linked with offline businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, and theaters will be further strengthened and introduced.

Moreover, benefits have already begun under the name of a ‘Teaser Promotion’ before the main event starts. This teaser promotion period has been extended compared to last year, running for ten days from the 22nd to the 31st. Five events are being held to allow simple participation and usage during the November event. A representative event is the ‘Smile Club Invitation King,’ which offers up to 1 million KRW in shopping support funds when friends join Smile Club through an invitation code.

Additionally, sharing event news on social networking services (SNS) enters participants into a daily draw selecting nine winners to receive prizes such as an ‘LG Notebook Gram’ or a ‘Dyson V8 Fluffy cordless vacuum cleaner.’ There is also a pre-event where discount coupons worth up to 400,000 KRW are given based on the cumulative number of people who click ‘Reserve Coupon’ on Gmarket and Auction. If reservations exceed 150,000 people, a ‘maximum 30,000 KRW coupon’ is issued; if over 300,000, a ‘maximum 400,000 KRW discount coupon’ is immediately issued. These coupons can be used starting from the November 1st event.

Other pre-event activities include the ‘Find the Brand Secret Discount Code’ event offering additional popular brand coupons and a cashback event on annual fees for Smile Card sign-ups.

An eBay Korea official said, “As the so-called Ontact trend?online contact?has taken hold, attention is increasingly focused on Big Smile Day, where consumers can easily browse tens of thousands of products from home and purchase them with exceptional benefits. We have worked extensively over a long period?from product preparation and collaboration with famous brands to pre-promotions and offering greater benefits?to meet expectations, so actual consumer satisfaction is expected to be high.”

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