"Everything Solved Near Home"... Regional-Based 'Hyperlocal' Services Are Rising

Regional-Based Ultra-Close Services in Spotlight
Hyperlocal Potential Market Estimated at 4000 Trillion Won

As people stay home longer, the amount of recyclable waste has increased, leading to the recent launch of services that allow recycling separation collection in a subscription format. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] As the scope of citizens' activity areas has shrunk due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, location-based services are gaining attention.

According to the industry on the 21st, interest in hyper-local services has increased recently as people have stayed home longer due to the pandemic. Global market research firm Research and Markets predicted that the hyper-local market, which recorded about 1,175 trillion KRW in 2019, will grow by about 20% by 2027, reaching approximately 4,332 trillion KRW in size.

The life management solution 'Migo' has introduced a recycling separation service in a 'subscription' format. On designated dates and times, a 'Migo' manager visits the customer's home to perform recycling separation on their behalf. Based on the customer's location, various residential convenience services related to apartment living are also provided. In addition to recycling separation, there are about 10 lifestyle convenience services including ▲food delivery ▲laundry pickup ▲popular restaurant meals ▲book delivery ▲mart product purchasing agency services.

In particular, Migo does not charge sales commissions from small business owners who are tenants. Furthermore, it leads efforts to revitalize traditional markets through traditional market delivery, and provides user-customized premium services such as secondhand transaction delivery, post office registered mail and parcel sending, and plant moving.

Through a seven-month pilot operation, Migo handled an average of about 1,000 lifestyle convenience requests per month. The cumulative orders have exceeded 10,000. Since the beta service launch, the cumulative number of members has surpassed 2,700. Last year, tests were conducted at Gyeonghuigung Ja-i and Ipyunhansesang Seoul National University Entrance, and currently, Migo provides lifestyle convenience services by grouping Mapo Raemian Prugio and 12 nearby apartments into one zone. A Migo official stated, "We are focusing on enhancing services in the entered areas while preparing to expand to surrounding complexes."

Danggeun Market is recognized for discovering a local economy business model by adding "Our Neighborhood Store News," which gathers stores by industry, to the "Near Me" feature that shares information on job openings, real estate, agricultural and marine products, and promotes local shops. Photo by Danggeun Market

Danggeun Market is evolving beyond a secondhand trading service among neighborhood residents to become a regional lifestyle platform. It offers functions such as job postings and applications, real estate, agricultural and marine products information sharing, 'Naeguncheo' (Near Me) for promoting local stores, and the local community 'Dongne Saenghwal' (Neighborhood Life).

'Naeguncheo' added 'Our Neighborhood Store News,' which shows stores by industry, and is evaluated as having discovered a regional economic business model. After expanding as a community app for local residents, it also entered advertising services for small business owners. The monthly users, about 500,000 at launch in 2018, have surpassed 16 million.

GS Retail introduced 'Our Neighborhood Delivery,' a location-based delivery platform. At the same time, it launched a delivery person platform called 'Uchin.' In this system, a local resident delivers GS offline convenience store products ordered by other local residents on foot. When an order is placed, a delivery request alarm is sent to residents within a 1.5 km radius of the store, and residents who are available accept it. Over one year, cumulative orders have reached 400,000, and the number of delivery members has exceeded 70,000.

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