Daegu City Launches 7% Discount on 'Daegu-ro Pay' Ahead of Lunar New Year... Additional Discounts Available

Daegu City will start selling discounted ‘Daeguro Pay’ from 12:15 AM on February 1 to revitalize local consumption and create a warm Lunar New Year atmosphere.

Amid the ongoing high inflation, Daegu City decided to issue the Daegu Love Gift Certificate ‘Daeguro Pay’ before the Lunar New Year to ease the shopping burden on citizens ahead of the holiday and contribute to the activation of the local commercial district.

Daegu Lo-Pay Discount Information.

The monthly discount purchase limit per person is 300,000 KRW, the discount rate remains the same at 7%, and the annual issuance scale is about 300 billion KRW. Considering that the government budget for supporting the issuance of local love gift certificates was reduced by about 30% compared to the previous year, the monthly discount limit was adjusted from the previous 500,000 KRW to 300,000 KRW to allow more citizens to benefit. A monthly sales limit will be set for early sales and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. However, in February, the first-come, first-served sales principle will not be applied due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

In July last year, Daegu City reflected the changing digital commerce environment, such as the increased demand for mobile-based electronic payment services, and to reduce the burden on small business owners, switched from the physical card type ‘Daegu Happiness Pay’ to the mobile app rechargeable prepaid card type ‘Daeguro Pay’ to activate the ‘Daeguro’ app.

As a result, the payment ratio of Daegu Love Gift Certificates within the Daeguro app rose significantly from 2.7% (Happiness Pay) in 2022 to 4.9% (Daeguro Pay) in 2023, thereby enabling the Daegu Love Gift Certificate to more faithfully serve as a “catalyst for regional economic revitalization.”

‘Daeguro’ is Daegu City’s independent platform to counter the monopoly of giant private platforms. It has continuously grown, recording 514,000 members, a cumulative order amount of 138.5 billion KRW, and 17,000 affiliated stores. It alleviates commission burdens on local small business owners and taxi drivers and contributes to improving citizens’ convenience through various services.

Since its launch in August 2021, ‘Daeguro’ has reduced small business owners’ commission burdens by at least 8.1 billion KRW compared to private delivery apps by the end of last year. Regarding Daeguro Taxi, since its introduction in December 2022, about 82% of all operating taxis (13,536 vehicles) have joined over approximately one year, significantly preventing the outflow of local capital.

Additionally, since June last year, the child meal card, which had issues such as stigma from face-to-face payment methods and nutritional imbalance due to convenience store usage concentration, has been usable by food-insecure children on ‘Daeguro,’ providing 54,656 meals so far. By fully supporting delivery fees, it has also eased the burden on food-insecure children, continuing its contribution to the local community.

Last year, ‘Daeguro’ strengthened its status as a comprehensive citizen life platform by adding various services such as flower delivery, meal kits, bundled delivery services for traditional markets, and electronic halls, in addition to existing delivery and taxi call services. It also installed a city bus operation information notification function for citizen convenience and introduced the ‘Good Store’ program, which returns commission savings from citizens’ ethical consumption as a 2,000 KRW discount benefit to citizens.

This year, Daegu plans to expand new services such as convenience store delivery and integration with the unified parking information system to make it more convenient for citizens to use. It also plans to open a ‘Business Service’ to encourage public institutions and corporate businesses to actively use ‘Daeguro’ for delivery orders, taxi calls, and more.

Furthermore, starting February 1, when paying with ‘Daeguro Pay’ within ‘Daeguro,’ a 5% additional discount benefit will resume, allowing citizens to enjoy a total discount of 12% by combining the 7% discount on ‘Daeguro Pay’ recharge amounts. This applies equally to food delivery, taxis, traditional markets, flower delivery, and electronic hall usage.

‘Daeguro Pay’ can be applied for and recharged through the ‘Daegu Bank IM Shop’ app, and for seniors aged 65 and older and registered persons with disabilities who wish, a plastic physical card can be issued at Daegu Bank branches located in Daegu City.

To activate the mobile-based ‘Daeguro Pay,’ additional merchant registrations within the region are being promoted to provide convenience to more citizens, and continuous promotion and guidance are provided so that each merchant can secure an on-site QR code payment system.

Mayor Hong Jun-pyo said, “Daegu is the only local government to build its own app to counter giant platform companies, breaking the monopoly structure of large corporations and protecting local small business owners. I hope that both citizens and small business owners actively use ‘Daeguro Pay’ and ‘Daeguro’ to greatly help during these difficult economic times.”