On July 4, [Financial News] reported that Kakao has signed a “Project Regular Customer” business agreement with Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and will actively pursue the “Visiting Local Commercial District Revitalization Project.”
The agreement ceremony, held at the Seongbuk-gu Office on the 3rd, was attended by Seung-ro Lee, the Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, Jung-wook Lee, the head of the Seoul Regional Office of the Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS), Young-deok Kim, the chairman of the Social Solidarity Bank, Dae-yeol Kwon, the ESG chair of the Kakao CA consultative body, and representatives from the local merchants’ associations.
This project, which Kakao is promoting in conjunction with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, SEMAS, and the Social Solidarity Bank, aims to strengthen collaboration with local governments to significantly revamp the beneficiaries and benefits, and expand support to the regional level.
Previously, each market and store was individually targeted, but starting this year, it will transition to a “Visiting Local Commercial District Revitalization Project” that supports major commercial areas across entire regions, such as cities, counties, or districts. This change is intended to enhance synergy between commercial districts and strengthen connections with local resources.
The project will be implemented in up to 40 traditional markets and shopping areas across 10 regions nationwide, starting with Seoul’s Seongbuk-gu and expanding throughout the country from early July.
New programs tailored to the regions are being introduced this year, including live commerce training, a tour shuttle bus tentatively named “Regular Bus” connecting major tourist spots and commercial districts, and training local youth as “Digital Supporters.” The existing services, such as one-on-one customized education, KakaoTalk channel message sending support (3 million KRW per district, 300,000 KRW per store), and Kakao service entrance support, will continue.
Additionally, for districts that participated last year, KaKao will run the “Returning to Regular Streets” program to provide continuous re-training and marketing support. The “Marketplace Talk Channel Support Program” will also expand its application from traditional markets to include alley-type shopping streets, reopening through a public competition that will be available for ongoing application from the 7th on the Regular Market homepage.
Jeong-shina KaKao, CEO of KaKao, stated, “We will continue to expand our win-win projects for invigorating local commercial districts,” and “We will create a sustainable win-win model that grows together with small businesses through genuine cooperation and practical field-oriented support.”