“Since the government distributed the ‘Livelihood Recovery Consumption Coupons’ to all citizens from July 21, there’s been an increase in sales for small businesses nationwide after a month,” reported Korea Credit Data (KCD) on the 26th.
Analyzing nationwide small business sales data, KCD found that the average card sales of small businesses increased by approximately 6.4% compared to the same period last year during the four weeks since the policy was implemented.
In particular, the second week saw the highest increase at 10.1%, clearly showing the effectiveness of the policy, with the upward trend continuing until the third week. However, the growth rate slowed to 1.2% year-on-year in the fourth week, indicating a reduced increase compared to the initial effect.
The Livelihood Recovery Consumption Coupons prompted increased spending, stimulated both everyday and self-care consumption, and created new consumption trends that had previously been reduced. The sales trends across various industries demonstrate that the coupons had a wide-reaching impact on diverse aspects of daily life.
According to the industry categories classified by Korea Credit Data, the distribution industry experienced the largest sales increase. Sales in this sector rose by 16.5% compared to the previous year. Specific sub-sectors such as optical stores (43.9%), fashion and clothing (33.2%), toys and games (32.7%), electronic cigarettes (31.3%), and cosmetics (30.1%) all saw increases exceeding 30%. This suggests that the coupons encouraged delayed purchases of essential durable goods and self-satisfaction consumption.
The impact of the consumption coupons was particularly evident in small businesses with annual sales below 3 billion won. In the distribution sector, stores with revenues under 3 billion won saw an 18% rise compared to the previous year.
Kang Ye-won, the head of data at Korea Credit Data, stated, “The Livelihood Recovery Consumption Coupons policy has continued to boost sales for small businesses nationwide up to the fourth week of its implementation. Significant effects were especially noted in small stores with annual sales below 3 billion won. We hope that the policy will lead to further recovery of local economies.”