Naver Smart Store Launches 510,000 New Stores... Producing 2030 Digital Entrepreneurs

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] Naver published the "Digital Ecosystem Report" on the 14th, highlighting the growth history and value of the digital startup and technology ecosystem it has built over the past six years.

According to the "Digital Ecosystem Report," as of this year, 510,000 Smart Stores have been established. Smart Store is a technology platform that allows anyone to start a business easily, and it is analyzed to have produced 50,000 to 120,000 new entrepreneurs annually.

In particular, young small-scale digital entrepreneurs are leading the ecosystem on Naver Smart Store. As of last year, 55% of sellers generating sales on Smart Store were early sellers with less than one year of membership, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accounted for 78.8%. Sellers in their 20s and 30s accounted for 43.8%.

The SME transaction growth rate on Smart Store from 2019 to 2021 recorded 138%, surpassing the overall Smart Store growth rate of 125% during the same period. The average annual employment growth rate of Smart Store sellers over the past five years was found to be 12%.

The cumulative payment amount of the "Quick Settlement" service, which facilitates SME fund liquidity, exceeded 14.4 trillion KRW as of August this year. SMEs using this program accounted for 93.1%. The number of Smart Store businesses using "Quick Settlement" was 59,911, indicating that the service is helping SME fund liquidity and business activation.

Education and commission support by growth stage are also catalysts for SME growth. The number of sellers who received support from the D-commerce program, including free education and consulting, exceeded 720,000 last year. The cumulative amount of zero-commission and marketing support funds for SMEs surpassed 84.3 billion KRW.

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, said, "We will continue the philosophy of 'Project Kkot' and strive to support SMEs' branding advancement and the digital growth of local businesses in various ways by adding the ideas and deep insights of Naver employees."