[Gettyimages Bank]
Coupang, the South Korean counterpart of Amazon, was one of the country's first online shopping operators to introduce subscription services in 2015. Parents with young kids, housewives and working people who do not have spare time to go to megastores favored Coupang's subscription service that regularly delivers groceries and everyday necessities such as diapers, detergents and hygiene products.
Alarmed by Coupang's success, other major online shopping services including 11st, Lotte Mart, the megamart wing of Lotte Group, and SSG.com, the online shopping mall operated by South Korea's retail giant Shinsegae, followed suit. For a while, Naver chose not to provide subscription services through its online mall Smart Store.
Naver said in a statement on August 20 that its online mall, Smart Store, would release subscription services. Customers can now choose the regular delivery cycle, the number of products per delivery, and the delivery schedule just by clicking through a few menu screens.
Smart Store, well known for its hefty shopping reward points, will offer up to six percent of purchase prices as special rewards for subscription service customers. Naver said that groceries, everyday necessities and pet foods are available through its new subscription service.
"We will offer shopping experiences unique to Naver by integrating some 10 billion product database and a subscription service solution," Naver's shipping service division head Lee Yoon-sook was quoted as saying.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
