Seollal Holiday Onnuri Gift Certificates Sales Reach 1 Trillion Won... "Integrated App Launch in March"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces Onnuri Gift Certificate Sales
Sales Increase by 579.4 Billion Won Year-on-Year During One-Month Period Including Lunar New Year
Digital Gift Certificates Account for 82 Percent of Total Sales

Over the past month, including the Lunar New Year holiday, Onnuri gift certificates have been sold for more than 1 trillion won. During this period, the amount spent also increased by about 180 billion won compared to last year. The government plans to launch an integrated app next month to revitalize Onnuri gift certificates and expand alleyway shopping districts.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups explained the sales status of Onnuri gift certificates for the 2025 Lunar New Year holiday and future policy directions on the 13th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

The briefing was held to share the results of consumption promotion events such as special discount sales and refunds of digital Onnuri gift certificates during the one-month period including the Lunar New Year holiday (January 10 to February 10), and to explain policy directions for expanding the use of digital Onnuri gift certificates.

A citizen is holding an Onnuri gift certificate at Mangwon Market in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Before and after the Lunar New Year holiday, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups conducted events including an increase in the purchase discount rate for digital Onnuri gift certificates, refunds upon payment with digital gift certificates, issuance of discount coupons for online traditional market halls, and a lottery for digital gift certificate users.

As a result of these events, actual sales of gift certificates and usage at affiliated stores significantly increased compared to the same period last year. During this period, the total sales amount including paper and digital gift certificates was 1.0267 trillion won, of which digital gift certificate sales accounted for 82% of total sales, recording 839.3 billion won. This is an increase of 579.4 billion won in total sales and 737.7 billion won in digital gift certificate sales compared to the same period last year, which included Lunar New Year.

During the same period, the total amount spent using gift certificates was 528.6 billion won, of which digital gift certificate usage accounted for 71%, or 373.3 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, total usage increased by 181.5 billion won, and digital gift certificate usage increased by 277 billion won. The fact that Onnuri gift certificate purchases led to actual consumption is believed to be greatly influenced by the 15% refund on digital gift certificates up to 20,000 won per person at the time of payment.

Based on the achievements during this Lunar New Year period, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups decided to focus policy efforts on promoting the use of digital gift certificates. First, an integrated app for digital Onnuri gift certificates will be launched on the 1st of next month. The app will introduce an automatic recharge function when the gift certificate balance is insufficient and a 24-hour chatbot consultation feature. The number of cards that can be registered as card-type gift certificates will also be expanded from the existing eight to nine with the addition of Woori Card.

To enable convenient use of Onnuri gift certificates in small-scale commercial districts around residences or workplaces, the number of alleyway shopping districts will be expanded to a cumulative total of 600 locations. To this end, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to cooperate with local governments that have designation authority to promptly revise or enact related ordinances. Additionally, when registering new affiliated stores, the payment methods will be improved to accept paper gift certificates, mobile gift certificates, and card-type gift certificates all together.

Kim Seong-seop, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, emphasized, "We will make policy efforts to improve convenience and expand usage locations so that digital Onnuri gift certificates can be used more conveniently and widely in the future."

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