Seollal Holiday Marks Issuance of 500 Billion KRW Seoul Love Gift Certificates... Available for Purchase from the 24th on 'Seoul Pay+'
Diversified Payment Methods Enhance Convenience
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is launching 'Seoul Pay Plus (Seoul Pay+)', a smart lifestyle payment platform utilizing fintech. 'Seoul Pay+' is a payment app that combines mobile simple payments with various administrative service applications and lifestyle information notifications.
On the 20th, Seoul announced that it will launch the Seoul Pay+ app in conjunction with the sale of Seoul Love Gift Certificates worth 500 billion KRW (66% of the annual issuance) issued for the Lunar New Year holiday, providing citizens with greater benefits and services. The Seoul Love Gift Certificates will be issued over three days from the 24th to the 26th and can be purchased and used through the newly launched Seoul Pay+ app.
The main functions of the Seoul Pay+ app include purchasing and payment of Seoul Love Gift Certificates, application, receipt, and payment of government and local government policy support services, and various lifestyle information notifications and searches. Previously, the purchase and payment of Seoul Love Gift Certificates were conducted through 23 different payment apps, but these will now be integrated into Seoul Pay+. The goal is to provide more convenient and improved services through a systematic system operation and member management within a single app. The Seoul Pay+ app, which offers increased benefits and services for installing the payment app, is available for download from the Play Store (Android) and App Store (iOS) starting from the 20th.
With Seoul Pay+, the purchase of Seoul Love Gift Certificates, which was previously only possible with cash payments, will now also be available via debit and credit cards. There are no additional fees for consumers when purchasing with credit cards, and the limit is 1 million KRW per person per month. If the gift certificate balance is less than the payment amount, a function to automatically combine the difference with the personal credit or debit card registered in Seoul Pay+ will be added by May this year. For example, if the payment amount is 70,000 KRW but the gift certificate balance is 50,000 KRW, 20,000 KRW will be automatically paid simultaneously using the registered credit card.
The balance of previously purchased Seoul Love Gift Certificates can be used in the current 23 payment apps in the same way until the end of February. After that, starting from February 28, the balance will be automatically transferred to Seoul Pay+, so it is convenient to install the app in advance.
The payment methods will also evolve by adopting more convenient new technologies. Until now, consumers had to scan the merchant's QR code and enter the payment amount manually, but from March this year, touch payment and shake & slide payment will be available, and in the second half of the year, various new technologies such as NFC payment and Face Pay (facial recognition payment) will enable the use of Seoul Love Gift Certificates.
Additionally, to allow consumers to conveniently use the gift certificates anywhere in local markets, the number of affiliated merchants will be increased from the current 280,000 to 530,000 by the end of April, roughly doubling. By linking with the National Tax Service and others, only merchants that are actually operational and able to process payments, reflecting business closures or suspensions, will be shown within the app, reducing consumer inconvenience.
Support for merchants has also been increased as well as consumer benefits. Since the purpose of issuing Seoul Love Gift Certificates is to provide real business profits to small business owners, the gift certificate payment fee remains '0 KRW' with no additional payment costs. Payment confirmation, cancellation, and sales performance management have been improved so that merchants can conveniently handle these within Seoul Pay+ without installing a separate app.
From April onwards, various functions such as administrative service applications and lifestyle information guidance will also be added to Seoul Pay+. It will be possible to apply for government and local government policy support funds and allowances without visiting offices or submitting paper documents (April), and a service to notify the timing and methods of applying for various subsidies and support funds via alert messages and app push notifications (April) will also be implemented. Events will be held in conjunction with the launch of the 'Smart Lifestyle Payment Platform Seoul Pay Plus (Seoul Pay+)'.
Han Young-hee, Seoul City Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy Officer, said, “Seoul Pay+ is an innovative service that enables major administrative, lifestyle, and consumption activities in Seoul with just a smartphone,” adding, “We expect that the launch of Seoul Pay+, which enables smart payment and lifestyle for Seoul citizens, will revive consumer sentiment that has been subdued by COVID-19 and restore vitality to local markets.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
