Starting next year, the basic advance discount will be 7% → 5%... Additional refund of 5% for traditional markets and 3% for local small business districts
Map app affiliated store search and card point conversion... Expansion of foreign payments
The government is revamping the Onnuri Gift Certificate after 18 years. Breaking away from the practice of applying the same discount rate regardless of where it is used across the country, additional refunds are provided when used in traditional markets and small business districts outside the metropolitan area.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the ‘Onnuri Gift Certificate Reform Plan’ jointly prepared by related ministries at the Economic Relations Ministerial Meeting on the 1st.
Starting next year, the basic purchase discount rate for the digital Onnuri Gift Certificate will be lowered from the current 7% to 5%. Instead, additional refunds are applied depending on where the gift certificate was actually used.
If you use it in a traditional market, you will receive 5% of the payment amount back. If you add the 5% discount received at the purchase stage, you can receive a total consumption benefit of 10%. In non-metropolitan alley commercial areas, a 3% refund is applied, for a total of 8%.
A basic purchase discount of 5% is applied to small businesses in the metropolitan area without additional refund.
If you purchase a digital Onnuri Gift Certificate worth 100,000 won, you will receive a 5,000 won discount first. If you use all of this at a traditional market, you will receive an additional 5,000 won back, for a total of 10,000 won. If you use it in a small area outside the metropolitan area, you will receive 3,000 won back, for a total benefit of 8,000 won.
Last year, the amount of Onnuri Gift Certificates used was 3.95 trillion Won, of which 65%, or 2.6 trillion Won, was spent in traditional markets. The amount spent in non-metropolitan areas was 2.26 trillion Won, or 57% of the total.
Reduce purchase discounts and expand refunds at traditional markets and local areas
The government is focusing the benefits on traditional markets and local commercial districts by returning some of the discounts that were provided in bulk at the gift certificate purchase stage to refunds at the actual use stage.
The criteria for designating alley-type shopping malls are also applied differently depending on local conditions. In areas with low financial independence or declining population, we plan to lower the designation threshold and increase the number of commercial areas where Onnuri Gift Certificates can be used.
Franchise management will also be strengthened. Currently, it is operated mainly by franchises with annual sales of less than 30 Billion Won, and franchises are restricted to professional service businesses such as hospitals, clinics, legal affairs, accounting, and taxation. We are also pursuing measures to restrict franchise registration and renewal of corporate supermarkets (SSM).
Convenience features are also expanded. We plan to make it possible to search for Onnuri Gift Certificate affiliated stores on Naver and Kakao maps, and to convert card points and public Institutional Investors welfare points into Onnuri Gift Certificate.
We will build related infrastructure so that foreign tourists can use existing payment apps such as Alipay to make QR payments at traditional markets without separate currency exchange or card issuance.
In non-metropolitan areas, local tourism is linked with the Onnuri Gift Certificate. If you spend more than a certain amount, you will receive admission tickets to tourist attractions, lodging tickets, and discount coupons for local shopping malls. We also support the development of travel products that combine traditional markets and nearby tourist attractions.
The Onnuri Gift Certificate was introduced in 2009. According to this reorganization, starting next year, instead of a uniform purchase discount, different discount and refund levels will be applied depending on the usage area and commercial district.
