"Big Data Marketing and Even Costs"... Card Companies Roll Up Sleeves to Support Small Business Owners

Shinhan Card Improves My Shop Partner
Supports Up to 15% Marketing Discount Costs
KB Kookmin Card Supports Zero Fees for Small Merchants
Through GetBack Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Card companies have rolled up their sleeves to provide various support for small business owners. Especially this year, as difficulties have increased due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the scope of support has expanded from marketing methods based on big data to costs.

According to the card industry on the 3rd, Shinhan Card improved the operation method of 'My Shop Partner,' a win-win marketing platform for small business owners, starting today. My Shop Partner is a big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-based marketing solution for small business owners introduced by Shinhan Card in September 2018. The improvement plan focuses on fully supporting marketing discount costs provided to customers up to 15%, allowing franchise owners to write promotional phrases themselves, select customer groups more precisely, and send messages through desired channels.

So far, card companies have strengthened marketing support for small business owners based on the big data they possess. Samsung Card introduced 'Link Biz Partner' in September 2017, the industry's first service to support efficient marketing for small and medium-sized franchise stores. Through Samsung Card's patented big data analysis algorithm called 'Smart Algorithm,' benefits are selectively provided only to customers who are likely to use the respective franchise.

Especially this year, as difficulties for small self-employed business owners have increased due to COVID-19, card companies' support measures are also expanding. BC Card started supporting small business owners through the 'Data Voucher Support Project' hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Data Industry Promotion Agency in April. This project provides vouchers for data purchase and processing services to companies that need new product and service development using big data. The main support targets are small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, and startups facing difficulties in manpower and funds.

KB Kookmin Card launched 'Avocado,' a franchise marketing service that sends customized advertising messages to customers using big data and marketing infrastructure, and in July, introduced the industry's first 'Getback Service,' which pays card sales proceeds as points without deducting fees to small franchises with annual sales under 300 million KRW. This method accumulates card sales amounts as points for franchise owners without deducting the 0.5~0.8% franchise fee applied to small franchises. Franchise owners can issue a dedicated card to use the accumulated points for payment of goods or convert them into cash. Since the launch of the Getback Service, the amount of credit sales paid in points has reached 10 billion KRW.

An industry official said, "Since the beginning of this year, card companies have introduced various support services, including loan maturity extensions and interest repayment deferrals, for self-employed people struggling due to COVID-19," adding, "In the long term, the goal is also to secure customers by advancing into a comprehensive platform based on big data."

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