Naver Smart Store Loans Boost Small Business Transaction Volume by 98%

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Naver Financial announced that its 'Smart Store Business Loan' has had a positive impact on sales and business growth, with the transaction volume of online small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasing by 98%.

On the 19th, according to Naver Financial, this analysis was revealed through the recent 'Naver Techfin Report 2021.' The research team led by Professor Choi Hyung-seok of Ewha Womans University Business School confirmed through empirical analysis that the smart store loans provided by Naver Financial positively affect SME sales and business activity growth, and disclosed related details.

The smart store loan is a loan product designed for online SMEs that do not have offline stores, lack real estate to offer as collateral, or have low sales and short business history, making bank loans difficult. As of last year, the loan amount reached 130 billion KRW. Analyzing data from 4,336 smart store business operators from December 2020 to June last year, the research team found that businesses that received loans saw an average transaction volume increase of 97.9% and a product count increase of 261.1% compared to if they had not received loans.

The research team also stated that if businesses that did not receive loans were assumed to have received them, their average transaction volume would increase by 236.4% and product count by 153.8%. The team explained, "Since the alternative credit evaluation system using non-financial data was applied to the smart store loans, the loan service is expected to provide growth opportunities to more SMEs."

Meanwhile, Naver Financial has gained positive responses by introducing support policies such as reduced simple payment fees and fee exemption programs for small and medium-sized businesses.

Earlier, starting from the 31st of last month, Naver Financial implemented a reduction in Naver Pay fees. The fees were lowered by 0.2 percentage points for micro businesses and by 0.05 to 0.15 percentage points for small and medium businesses. For micro businesses, the order management fee decreased from 2.0% to 1.8%, and the payment fee dropped from 1.1% to 0.9%. Notably, this applies to sales through all payment methods, not just cards, so the perceived benefit for small business owners is expected to be even greater.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business expressed in a statement on the 14th, "We welcome the fee reduction policy," and added, "We hope that this initiative by online big tech companies to reduce simple payment fees will help alleviate the fee burden on small business owners."

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