'Sancheong Sarang Gift Certificates Worth 8.5 Billion Won Sold Out Due to High Demand'

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Sancheong-gun, Gyeongnam announced on the 15th that the sales amount of Sancheong Love Gift Certificates is expected to be sold out early as it has exceeded 8.5 billion KRW.

According to the county, as of the end of September, the sales amount of the gift certificates is over 8.5 billion KRW. This amount excludes sales from disaster relief funds and is more than 2.5 times last year's sales amount of 3.3 billion KRW.

The reason for the high popularity of Sancheong Love Gift Certificates is that Sancheong-gun has continuously provided a 10% discount benefit by investing 1.5 billion KRW in project expenses including national subsidies.

In addition, efforts such as expanding gift certificate sales agencies, prize events, and continuous promotion of merchant registration are analyzed to have created a synergistic effect.

The county expects that if this trend continues, gift certificates worth 12 billion KRW will be sold by the end of this year. To activate the use of gift certificates, in October, stickers will be produced and distributed to 961 affiliated stores so that users can easily identify affiliated stores.

From next year, the number of gift certificate sales and exchange points will be expanded. Currently, it is only possible at 19 branches of local agricultural and livestock cooperatives, but from January next year, sales and exchanges will also be possible at Gyeongnam Bank and Saemaeul Geumgo.

A county official said, “Sales of gift certificates will be suspended from December 13 due to system restructuring to expand Sancheong Love Gift Certificate handling locations,” and added, “Due to the high popularity of the current gift certificates, early sell-out is expected, so residents in need are advised to make purchases quickly.”

Meanwhile, Sancheong-gun invested 3.4 billion KRW of county funds earlier this year to provide disaster relief funds to residents in the form of gift certificates, boosting the local economy that was depressed by COVID-19. Using this as a catalyst, the increase in gift certificate usage has led to increased consumption within the region.

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