Kakao's 'Soshin Sangin Support Benefits' Payments Surpass 5 Billion KRW in One Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao announced on the 1st that the support amount for the ‘Kakao Soshin Merchant Support Benefit’ has exceeded 5 billion KRW in just one month.

The ‘Kakao Soshin Merchant Support Benefit,’ which started on the 3rd of last month, is a win-win activity that supports the cost of sending channel messages so that small business owners nationwide can secure regular customers and carry out marketing using KakaoTalk channels. Anyone who is an individual or corporate business operator with an annual sales revenue of 1 billion KRW or less based on National Tax Service reports can apply. So far, about 17,000 small business owners have received the support funds.

Kakao reviews applications and supports an amount that allows sending approximately 10,000 to 20,000 KakaoTalk channel messages. If a business has about 1,000 friends, it means they can send messages once a month for over a year.

Park Yunseok, head of Kakao’s Small Business Win-Win TF, said, "We confirmed high interest from small business owners who hesitated due to the cost and accessibility issues of digital marketing," adding, "We plan to create a long-term win-win program that continuously supports more small business owners by reflecting various opinions."

In addition to the Soshin Merchant Support Benefit, Kakao is running the ‘Our Neighborhood Regular Market’ program together with Kakao Impact and MKYU. ‘Our Neighborhood Regular Market’ is a program where digital tutors stay at markets for 8 weeks to educate merchants who find digital communication difficult about KakaoTalk channels and provide benefits and support to help them communicate easily with regular customers. The first project is currently underway at Shinyeong Market in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, and 10 more traditional markets nationwide will be additionally selected.

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