"An Alley Commercial District with 10,000 Daily Visitors Gains 5,000 Online Loyal Customers"
Kakao Attends as Asia's Only Private Partner
Introduces Case of Supporting Digital Transformation for Small Business Owners
On the 10th, at the OECD meeting on the 'Digitalization Support Initiative for Small and Medium Enterprises,' Eunhwa Kim, Kakao's Win-Win Business Leader, and Yongjo Kim, President of the Bukchon Gyedong-gil Merchants Association (second and third from the left) attended.
On the 10th, Kakao participated as the only official private partner from Asia in the 'Initiative to Support the Digitalization of Small and Medium Enterprises' meeting held at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) headquarters in Paris, France, introducing 'Project Danggo,' a win-win case for small business owners.
At this meeting themed 'Enhancing SME Competitiveness through Digital and AI Adoption,' Kakao presented the achievements of 'Project Danggo,' which has supported the digital transformation of traditional markets and local commercial districts.
Kim Eunhwa, the leader of the win-win business project and the presenter, stated, "So far, we have supported 212 traditional markets and 15 local commercial districts, and the markets selected as excellent markets last year each secured more than 10,000 loyal customers." She added, "According to joint research by the Small Enterprise and Market Service and the Distribution Science Association, traditional markets participating in the project showed a 3% increase in average sales over three years compared to non-participating markets."
Following this, Kim Yongjo, president of the Bukchon Gyedong-gil Merchants Association in Seoul, who participated in the project, took the stage as a presenter and shared on-site experiences with government officials, platform companies, SMEs, and academic experts from around the world, drawing attention.
President Kim Yongjo said, "Thanks to Kakao, we were able to secure more than 5,000 loyal customers in the alley commercial district where 10,000 people used to come and go daily, and also started online communication." He added, "This became an opportunity to shift from traditional methods to digital commerce, and merchants overcame their fear of digital tools and gained confidence. I hope such cases spread globally."
Alongside this, Kakao also announced its digital technology-based SME support strategy. At the Kakao Danggo Support Center, various government support policies are introduced, and through its subsidiary DK Techin, Kakao operates technology cooperation programs to help strengthen SME competitiveness. The enterprise solution 'Kakao Work 2.0,' to be launched this year, will include AI work support features to enable SMEs to easily utilize AI technology.
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