Chairman Park Seong-hyo: "We Will Sell 6 Trillion Won Worth of Onnuri Gift Certificates This Year"

Small Enterprise and Market Service New Year Press Conference
"Onnuri Card, Expansion of Rechargeable Cards"

The Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS) has set a goal to sell 6 trillion won worth of Onnuri gift certificates used in traditional markets and shopping districts this year.

On the 16th, Park Seong-hyo, Director of SEMAS, announced measures to promote the use of Onnuri gift certificates at a New Year press briefing held at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido.

Park Sung-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Director Park said, "There are three types of Onnuri gift certificates: paper-based, mobile, and rechargeable card types. I wonder if it is necessary to have all three," adding, "We will expand the rechargeable card type."

He explained, "The paper type is easy to access, but it has the highest rate of illegal distribution, so I question whether expanding it is reasonable," and added, "We should integrate the mobile and rechargeable card types and move toward expanding the rechargeable card type."

He also pointed out, "In shopping districts, not all merchants use Onnuri gift certificates, so expanding the places where they can be used is necessary," and said, "Onnuri gift certificates are the best among Korean gift certificates, but the limitation on usage locations is a weakness."

Director Park emphasized, "This year's sales target for Onnuri gift certificates is 6 trillion won, including 1 trillion won that was not sold last year. It is difficult to sell out with the existing approach, so we are planning ways to increase the use of the gift certificates," and added, "Many young people are not familiar with Onnuri gift certificates and do not use them. We will strengthen promotion efforts to help increase sales for small business owners."

This year, the monthly purchase limit per individual for Onnuri gift certificates has been raised to 500,000 won. The paper type limit increased from 1 million won to 1.5 million won, and the mobile and rechargeable card types increased from 1.5 million won to 2 million won. The discount rate is 5% for the paper type, but 10% for the mobile and rechargeable card types.

He also revealed plans for organizational restructuring. He said, "Among the 77 regional centers, more than one-third are small centers with about three staff members," and added, "We are considering reorganizing the lower local organizations into integrated forms to create large regional centers."

As an achievement from last year, he mentioned support for traditional markets through cooperation with private platforms. SEMAS collaborated with Kakao to run the ‘Making Regular Customers for Traditional Markets’ program. Director Park said, "A total of 100 traditional markets participated last year, and the results were good. Merchant satisfaction was also high, so we will greatly expand this program this year."

Director Park stated, "The Minister of SMEs and Startups is new, and policies to support exports will be strengthened," adding, "We will expand the export support measures for small business owners devised last year and establish a comprehensive support system that enhances global marketing."

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