Seoul City Prepaid Gift Certificate Usage Expanded to Over 130,000 Locations Including Academies

10% Payback Benefit on Payment Amount Starting from the 20th... Usage Period Extended Until the End of March

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 17th that it will significantly expand the usage locations for the 'Seon (善) Prepaid Gift Certificates,' which have been issued since the 28th of last month, and will provide an additional 10% payback when payments are made in industries affected by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The city improved the usage restrictions of the prepaid gift certificates, which were originally limited to campaign-participating businesses, allowing them to be used at all small business sectors that suffered significant sales losses due to gathering bans and business restrictions amid the escalation of the COVID-19 crisis. Regarding academies, which were previously excluded from the prepaid gift certificates, the city accepted requests from the academy sector and now allows limited use of the prepaid gift certificates for establishments with annual sales under 1 billion KRW.

Accordingly, about 130,000 locations can now use the prepaid gift certificates, including approximately 110,000 businesses in gathering-banned and business-restricted sectors affiliated with Zero Pay such as karaoke rooms, indoor sports facilities, restaurants and cafes, bathhouses, PC rooms, hair and beauty salons, reading rooms, and study cafes, as well as about 18,000 academies with annual sales under 1 billion KRW.

Additionally, to increase consumer usage rates, from the 20th of this month until the 15th of next month, except for academy sector usage, a payback event will be held where 10% of the prepaid gift certificate payment amount will be returned as Seoul Love Gift Certificates. The event may end early if the budget is exhausted, and detailed information can be obtained by contacting the Korea Easy Payment Promotion Foundation.

For businesses that have already participated in the prepaid campaign and decided to offer additional discounts on their own, the city plans to actively promote this to consumers through Z-Map or the gift certificate website to preserve the intent of the campaign.

Moreover, the prepaid gift certificates will add denominations of 30,000 KRW and 50,000 KRW, sold alongside the existing 100,000 KRW denomination, making a total of three denominations available. The minimum payment condition of 100,000 KRW or more will be removed, and the usage period will be extended from January 31 to March 31. Seoul explains that lowering the prepaid amount will allow consumers to prepay at multiple places, which is expected to benefit small business owners by increasing sales.

Kim Hong-chan, the Zero Pay officer of Seoul City, said, "We hope that consumers and small business owners who have hesitated to participate in the prepaid campaign due to various inconveniences will now easily join through this expanded benefit."

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