Seoul Sarang Gift Card Purchases Now Available, Number of Affiliates Doubles from 260,000 to 530,000... Maintaining '0%' Commission Fee

Agreement Signed with Qualified 'Shinhan Consortium' under Gift Certificate Act for Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate Sales Agency
Added Combined Payment Function for Gift Certificates and Cards in Gift Certificate App

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Starting next year, mobile easy payment will be available at all Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate affiliated stores in Seoul. The payment fee borne by affiliated stores will remain at '0 won,' and the 'Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate' can also be purchased by card, enhancing convenience for citizens. Sales analysis reports by period and industry will be regularly provided to affiliated stores to support their marketing efforts.

On the 13th, Seoul City announced that it will sign the 'Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate Sales Agency Agreement' with the 'Shinhan Consortium,' newly selected as the sales agency for Seoul Sarang Gift Certificates. With this agreement, the Shinhan Consortium will be responsible for the sales agency of Seoul Sarang Gift Certificates for two years until the end of December 2023. The Shinhan Consortium consists of four payment-specialized companies: Shinhan Card, Shinhan Bank, Kakao Pay, and T-money, with Shinhan Card as the main operator.

The main points of this agreement include maintaining a 0% commission fee for Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate affiliated stores, enhancing consumer convenience and benefits, reducing issuance costs by more than 8 billion won, and supporting marketing for affiliated stores. The core is to help small business owners increase sales by keeping the payment fee at '0 won,' support capacity building such as marketing to strengthen self-sustainability, and improve convenience for consumers in purchasing and using gift certificates, thereby providing practical help to revitalize the local economy.

Seoul City plans to sign agreements with qualified sales agencies under the Local Love Gift Certificate Act, improve issues such as excessive issuance of gift certificates, purchase and payment errors, and server downtime that occurred during the project implementation process, and utilize the capabilities of payment-specialized companies to increase small business profits and secure payment convenience for Seoul citizens.

Starting next year, the number of Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate affiliated stores will expand more than twice from the current '260,000 Zero Pay affiliated stores' to '530,000 card-affiliated stores.' By utilizing the infrastructure of Shinhan Card, a payment-specialized company, Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate affiliated stores will be increased to the level of card-affiliated stores within the first half of next year. Additionally, by linking dormant and closed business information with the National Tax Service, only stores where actual payment is possible will be guided through platforms such as 'Kakao Map.' However, the use of gift certificates will be limited to small business affiliated stores to maximize the effect of increased sales.

Also, starting next year, the Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate payment app will change to apps that most citizens use, such as ‘Shinhan pLay,’ ‘Shinhan Sol,’ ‘T-money Pay,’ ‘Kakao Pay,’ ‘KakaoTalk,’ and ‘Moneytree.’

Sales analysis reports of gift certificate affiliated stores in various forms such as by period and industry will also be regularly provided to store owners. Affiliated stores are expected to benefit in long-term business operations by utilizing reports such as sales analysis of similar industries to devise various marketing and sales management enhancement plans. While supporting affiliated store coupons, AI-based store recommendations, and development and implementation of promotional content, payment cancellations, which were a major inconvenience raised by store owners, have also been improved to be possible immediately.

Meanwhile, Seoul City also provided clarifications regarding concerns about infringement on local commercial districts using gift certificate affiliated store information by consortium participants such as Kakao Pay. Seoul City explained that Kakao Pay only uses minimal payment information provided by Shinhan Card (the consortium’s lead company) to process payments for gift certificates purchased on other apps and does not take over affiliated store information. Therefore, the affiliated stores recruited by Seoul City are not entirely transferred to Kakao Pay.

Regarding concerns that QR codes installed at Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate affiliated stores next year will be removed and replaced with Kakao Pay QR codes, and fears of commission fee increases, Seoul City stated that citizens will still be able to make payments through the already installed QR codes next year. Newly distributed QR codes will also be installed as the current ‘Standard QR Code (Bank of Korea)’ rather than Kakao Pay QR codes to minimize inconvenience for citizens and store owners. The affiliated store payment fee will remain ‘0 won,’ the same as before, refuting claims that fees will increase due to Kakao Pay’s participation.

Han Young-hee, Seoul City’s Director of Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy, said, “In addition to 0% commission fees for affiliated stores, diversification of payment methods, and marketing support for affiliated stores, we are preparing various additional support measures that can provide practical benefits to small business owners and users.” She added, “Seoul City and the Shinhan Consortium will operate an innovative gift certificate platform that satisfies both small business owners and consumers to revive the weakened consumer sentiment and restore vitality to local commercial districts.”

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