15% Discount 'Seoul Sarang Gift Certificate' Sold Out in Ten Days ... Additional 80 Billion Sales

10% Additional Benefit When Receiving 'Jaenan Emergency Living Expense' Gift Certificates

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will issue an additional 80 billion won worth of 'Seoul Love Gift Certificates' to revive the frozen neighborhood economy and consumer sentiment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seoul announced on the 5th that the 50 billion won worth of Seoul Love Gift Certificates, which were sold at a 15% discount starting from the 23rd of last month, were completely sold out by the 1st of this month, just ten days later.

The city explained that the gift certificates sold out earlier than expected because their usage was expanded to 190,000 places including convenience stores, local marts, academies, and pharmacies, making them more convenient to use. Additionally, consumers could receive an extra 5% cashback when paying with the gift certificates, resulting in an effective discount rate of 20%, providing many benefits to consumers.

Accordingly, the city decided to extend the 15% discount sale event and issue an additional 80 billion won worth of gift certificates. The usage of the gift certificates will also be expanded from the existing 17 autonomous districts to all 25 districts in Seoul within this month.

As the sales of the gift certificates increase, the amount of Zero Pay payments and the participation of small business merchants have also risen. As of December last year, the average daily Zero Pay payment was 400 to 500 million won, but it surged to over 1 billion won on March 23, when the discounted gift certificate sales began, and exceeded 3 billion won on April 1.

Applications for Zero Pay merchant registration by local small business owners also increased significantly. Before March 23, about 1,000 applications were submitted weekly, but during the fourth week of March (March 23?29), 8,727 applications were submitted, a ninefold increase. Among Zero Pay payment apps that sell the gift certificates, 'Beepul Zero Pay' saw its app installations increase about fivefold from 10,000 in February to 50,000 in March.

Seoul plans to allow the selection of Seoul Love Gift Certificates for the 'Emergency Living Expenses' provided by the Seoul city government and the 'Emergency Disaster Relief Fund' issued by the central government as part of COVID-19 livelihood measures. In particular, if the Seoul-type Emergency Living Expenses are received in Seoul Love Gift Certificates, an additional 10% will be provided.

For example, a recipient who receives 500,000 won will have approximately 550,000 won credited to their mobile phone if they choose Seoul Love Gift Certificates instead of a prepaid card.

By choosing Seoul Love Gift Certificates, recipients do not need to visit a community service center to receive a prepaid card; they can receive a PIN number on their mobile phone and enter it into the Zero Pay payment app to immediately charge the corresponding amount.

Seo Seong-man, Seoul’s Labor and Livelihood Policy Officer, said, "Since offline-centered self-employed businesses and traditional markets are facing difficulties due to COVID-19, we hope that the activation of Seoul Love Gift Certificates will help alleviate their hardships even a little."