Shinhan Card: "Consumption Coupon Boosts Small Merchant Sales by 15%"

Small and Micro Merchants with Annual Sales Under 300 Million Won
Sales Up 15.4% After Coupon Distribution

On September 18, Shinhan Card announced that it had confirmed an increase in sales at small and micro merchants, as well as a rise in personal spending by merchant owners, following the issuance of livelihood recovery consumption coupons.

According to an analysis by the Shinhan Card Big Data Research Institute, which compared the average sales of small and micro merchants for three months before the distribution of the livelihood recovery consumption coupons with sales for one month after distribution, merchants with annual sales of 300 million won or less saw a sales growth rate of 15.4%.

By merchant size, those with annual sales exceeding 300 million won but not exceeding 500 million won saw a 6.4% increase, those exceeding 500 million won but not exceeding 1 billion won recorded a 5.9% increase, and those exceeding 1 billion won but not exceeding 3 billion won saw a 6.5% increase. The sales growth effect was more than twice as large for smaller merchants compared to medium-sized merchants.

Along with the increase in sales, personal spending by merchant owners also rose. The per capita card usage amount for owners of merchants with annual sales of 300 million won or less increased by 12.6%, which was the highest growth rate among all groups.

Owners of merchants with annual sales of 500 million won or less and 1 billion won or less saw increases of 8.8% and 2.6%, respectively, while owners of merchants with annual sales of up to 3 billion won actually saw a decrease of 0.2%.

The data clearly showed that the smaller the merchant, the greater the increase in the owner's spending capacity.

In particular, unlike ordinary individuals, merchant owners tended to use the livelihood recovery consumption coupons as business expenses, such as paying advertising agencies for promotional activities or purchasing general office supplies.

A Shinhan Card representative explained, "It appears that the livelihood recovery consumption coupons distributed to all citizens not only stimulated spending but also played a significant role as a catalyst for positive economic circulation."

Meanwhile, according to Shinhan Card's 'Small Business Economic Hardship Index,' as of last month, the index for micro merchants (annual sales of 300 million won or less) and general merchants stood at 87.9 and 81.3, respectively. These are the lowest figures since 2022, indicating the significant impact of the livelihood recovery consumption coupons.

The index is calculated by standardizing the perceived economic hardship of small business owners, combining 15 microeconomic indicators-including card data-and five macroeconomic indicators. A higher score indicates greater economic hardship for small business owners. The figure was first introduced last year by the Financial Services Commission's "Task Force for Support Measures for Low-Income Individuals and the Self-Employed."