eBay Korea Targets Homebound Shoppers with Premium Membership 'Smile Club'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As non-face-to-face lifestyles have become normalized due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and homebound shopping through online channels has become familiar, e-commerce membership services are gaining attention.

According to the industry on the 14th, eBay Korea’s premium membership “Smile Club,” which offers benefits across Gmarket, Auction, and G9, has nearly reached 3 million subscribers by targeting homebound shoppers. Smile Club appears to have drawn strong customer response because members can receive greater discounts on the same products and enjoy exclusive benefits available only to Smile Club members.

Launched in April 2017 as the industry’s first paid membership by eBay Korea, Smile Club grants the highest membership tier immediately upon joining for Gmarket, Auction, and G9, providing powerful benefits. Although it is a paid membership with an annual fee of 30,000 KRW, it offers a welcome gift of 35,000 KRW in Smile Cash, and if you apply for one month of free use, an additional 2,000 KRW is provided, making it virtually free.

Additionally, on the first day of every month, a “12% discount exclusive coupon” applicable to all products is automatically issued, along with one “10% discount coupon” and two “1,000 KRW discount coupons.” These four types of coupons are issued separately for Gmarket and Auction, and members can also receive a G9-exclusive “10,000 KRW discount coupon” and “2,000 KRW discount coupon.”

eBay Korea is significantly enhancing Smile Club-exclusive services by strengthening various shopping conveniences and perks available only to Smile Club members. On Gmarket, they introduced “Smile Club On Air.” This service features “Special Deals,” which offer 3 to 5 popular brand products each month with exclusive benefits, and gathers all coupons available to Smile Club members in one place to make shopping more convenient.

The “Smile Club Grocery Shopping” event is also a special corner for membership members. This service is a same-day delivery promotion launched by Gmarket in October last year for Smile Club members. If ordered before 8 PM, customers receive “Smile Delivery” the next day, and can receive products from nearby marts such as Lotte Super, GS Fresh, and Homeplus at their desired time through “Same-Day Delivery,” along with various discount benefits and a one-stop view of best products. Each month, popular grocery brands are carefully selected and up to 15% overlapping discounts are provided.

An eBay Korea official said, “The benefits of ‘Smile Club,’ reflecting the changed lifestyles of customers in the era of contactless culture and homebound shopping normalized by the COVID-19 new normal, are receiving great responses from customers,” and added, “In 2021, we will focus on developing ‘Smile Club’ services optimized to customer needs by further segmenting the accumulated data analysis.”

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