Seocho-gu Small Business Sales Increase Project 'Online Platform' Construction: Amazing Changes?

Support for Mobile Business Card Creation Providing Local Commercial Area and Industry-Specific Information via Mobile Phones... Offering Packaging Equipment Support and Marketing Consulting for Small Business Owners to Enable Online Sales Environment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Mr. A, the owner of a famous restaurant in Bangbae-dong, recently expressed great difficulties due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, customers would line up to wait at his popular restaurant, but now, because of social distancing measures, tables are not fully occupied, and the business has to close early.

In contrast, Mr. B, who runs a restaurant in Yangjae-dong, breathes a sigh of relief. The online marketing and delivery system he diligently prepared from the early days of COVID-19 have finally paid off.

Although small business owners have suffered severe sales declines due to COVID-19, those who quickly adapted to the contactless era by starting online markets or delivery services in advance have actually seen their sales increase.

This has resulted in a so-called polarization of sales.

Seocho-gu (Mayor Eunhee Cho) announced that it will actively support the revitalization of local commercial districts by strengthening small business owners’ online distribution channels to respond to rapidly changing consumer market patterns.

The core of Seocho-gu’s local commercial district revitalization is the establishment of an ‘online platform.’

First, the district plans to create mobile business cards for each store, focusing on representative local commercial districts within the area. The mobile business card functions as an online store that can update customers in real time with store history, product introductions, orders, reservations, events, and more, promoting the store one-on-one.

To create mobile business cards that highlight each store’s unique characteristics, consultations with professional curators will be conducted. Even after production, the district plans to continuously manage the online stores through 100% utilization training and store information upgrade education to ensure that the online stores go beyond simple promotion and lead to customer management and increased sales.

Moreover, the transformation into an online platform will not only provide individual store information but also incorporate location-based services to support distance- and industry-specific guidance for all stores within the commercial district.

Along with this, live commerce promotions and exposure of store information on various SNS channels will raise awareness of the local commercial districts, and a QR directory book will be produced and distributed to local residents.

Reflecting changing consumer patterns, at the end of last year, live TV promotions were conducted in collaboration with a famous YouTuber channel for the Maljukgeori local commercial district.

Mr. Kim (57), who runs a gukbap (soup with rice) restaurant in Maljukgeori, said, “In November last year, I could barely serve 1 to 2 tables a day, but recently, 7 to 8 tables have been filled, and the number of customers has increased significantly. The district is providing various supports to revitalize the local commercial district, and now that vaccines are available, I just hope COVID-19 ends soon,” smiling.

Based on these achievements last year, the district plans to operate ‘live commerce’ for each store and commercial district within Seocho-gu starting from the first half of this year through Korea’s top distribution companies such as Naver, Kakao, and Coupang.

Live commerce is an online marketing field that has explosively grown during the COVID-19 era. It will promote cafes in Bangbae-dong, restaurants around Jamwon-dong and Sadang Station in real time, encouraging customer visits and enabling online food delivery to help these eateries regain their former glory.

The online platform and live commerce projects will select and support participants from the first half of this year through local food service associations and community service centers.

For more details, contact the Seocho-gu Job and Economy Division.

Meanwhile, the district has actively carried out specialized regional economic revitalization projects by area, such as the Bangbae-dong Cafe Alley, Bangbae Station Food Alley, and Yangjae Maljukgeori local commercial district, striving to strengthen the self-sustainability of small business owners.

To support small business owners struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the district provided support funds to new self-employed individuals and those with annual sales between 200 million and 500 million KRW who were excluded from Seoul City’s survival fund support. It also implemented various support projects such as assistance for multi-use facility closures and businesses affected by confirmed COVID-19 cases, flowerpot purchases to support flower farms, partnerships between affected businesses and nearby companies, local commercial district disinfection, and establishment of safe zones.

Seocho-gu Mayor Eunhee Cho said, “We will support residents to visit stores they have encountered on the online platform in person. Since existing marketing strategies cannot revive the depressed local commercial districts, we will stand by small business owners, actively respond to changes, and implement policies that empower them.”

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