With the Naver Pay Check Card, cardholders accumulate one percent of their purchases up to a limit of 10,000 points (10,000 won) per month. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Online quick-payment services are expanding into the offline market with the launch of physical plastic cards.
Naver announced that it will launch the Naver Pay Check Card in collaboration with Shinhan Card, while Kakao launched the Kakao Shinhan Check Card, also in partnership with Shinhan Card.
With the Naver Pay Check Card, cardholders accumulate one percent of their purchases up to a limit of 10,000 points (10,000 won) per month. The card can be linked to other financial institutions such as Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank if registered to Naver Pay. Purchases made using the card can be viewed on the Naver Pay page. RFID transportation card features can also be added.
To those who apply before the official launch at the special site (https://campaign.naver.com/x2/), Naver is offering two percent of purchases as points for this year, instead of the usual one percent.
The KakaoPay Shinhan Check Card offers a 10 percent discount to consumers using the ‘card quick payment’ of KakaoPay. Offline users get a 10 percent discount at Starbucks and GS25.
KakaoPay has also launched various card products in collaboration with Hana Card and Busan Bank. The check cards have been extremely popular, with over 300,000 members signed up only three months after they were released.
Quick payment services that make use of online platforms are migrating to offline services as part of an attempt to expand their client bases.
Currently, there are 15 million Naver Pay members and 7 million KakaoPay subscribers. However, many do not use the service after signing up. The companies decided that they should expand the customer experience by stepping away from their online platforms.
In addition, Naver hopes to boost the revenue of small businesses that are allied with Naver Pay by launching the Naver Pay Check Card.
Kakao also seeks to make good use of KakaoPay by linking it with other online to offline (O2O) services currently being provided. When a KakaoPay Shinhan Check Card is used to pay for KakaoTaxi Black or pay bills through KakaoPay, discount benefits are offered.
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
