“Cellphone Coupons” Popular With Korean Kids
July 29, 2008 That’s according to this Chosun Ilbo article. Also, you can read what one Korean blogger wrote in a post about using the services.
Recently at convenience stores and movie theaters you can see young people pulling out their cellphones when it comes time to pay. “Mobile financial technology” is increasingly being used by the young in the form of coupons and gift certificates on their cellphones.
According to SK Networks, the number of users of the mobile coupon service “OK Coupon” has recently exploded. At the end of last year there were 295,000 users, a figure which has tripled to 950,000 this year, and 65% of its users are between the ages of 15 and 25. When users present the coupons using their cellphones they can receive discounts of from hundreds to thousands of won.
SK Telecom and KTF both operate popular mobile gift certificate services: “Gif-ti-con” and “Gif-ti-show” respectively. Both offer mobile gift certificates which include significant discounts. 70% of Gif-ti-show’s users are in their teens or twenties, while 62% of Gif-ti-con’s users are in the same age group. The two company’s services are aiming to pull in 10 billion won this year.
The big cellphone companies believe that the two services represent an awakening to “financial technology” of this young generation during an economic slump. Kim Ji-ho, a manager with SK Telecom, said, “with these mobile gift certificates they can buy gifts for their friends and sweethearts, and even if money is tight for them they can still be a ‘cool, digital person’.”
The big cellphone companies have plans to expand the services and tailor them to trends among the young generation, who care about both substance and style. KTF is having a “1+1″ celebration until August, offering a two-for-one gift certificate purchases, and SK Telecom and SK Networks plans to offer customized coupons. Who knows where young people’s financial technology will go next?
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