Naver Supports 80,000 Early Entrepreneurs with 20 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Naver announced on the 19th that it has supported smart store entrepreneurs with a total of 20 billion KRW over the past three years.

Naver explained that through the 'Growth Points' program, which started in 2017, 80,000 sellers have received points at least once to date.

The Growth Points program is a support initiative that provides points allowing novice entrepreneurs, who have opened a smart store but are unfamiliar with marketing methods or find investment costs burdensome, to try marketing for about a month.

The support targets sellers who have opened a smart store within the past year, and points are provided according to the average transaction amount over three months: 150,000 points (for 2 million KRW to less than 8 million KRW), 300,000 points (for 8 million KRW to less than 40 million KRW), and 1,000,000 points (for 40 million KRW to less than 80 million KRW).

Sellers can use Growth Points to provide reward points to purchasing customers or to cover search advertising costs.

As the number of novice business owners challenging online startups due to the COVID-19 pandemic increases, the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) knocking on the door of such growth support programs is also rising.

The number of sellers who received Growth Points from January to September increased by 32% compared to the same period last year, and notably, SMEs with an average monthly transaction amount between 2 million KRW and 8 million KRW accounted for 70% of this group.

In fact, the proportion of Growth Points used for search advertising has expanded every year, reaching 63% as of January to September this year. Search advertising is a marketing method friendly to small business owners as it can be effectively conducted with a small amount of money. Naver also provides related education through Partners Square to support SMEs in utilizing marketing.

A Naver official said, "As more SMEs seek to find a way out through online startups during difficult times such as prolonged non-face-to-face situations and economic downturns, support tailored to the growth stage is increasingly necessary. We will spare no effort and support to help SMEs seize business growth opportunities, increase startup success rates, and expand the overall online startup ecosystem."