Retailers hope customers are good at finances too

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Retailers hope customers are good at finances too

A poster promotes the subscription service offered by Hanwha Life with GS Retail and Emart. [HANWHA LIFE]

A poster promotes the subscription service offered by Hanwha Life with GS Retail and Emart. [HANWHA LIFE]

 
Retailers are expanding partnerships with finance companies to reach out to the younger generation. 
 
Emart and GS Retail are partnering with Hanwha Life insurance company to offer a subscription service, while Emart24 recently finished a second round of giving free stock to buyers of its dosirak, or packaged meals, in partnership with Hana Financial Investment. 
 
Emart and GS Retail, operator of GS25 convenience stores, separately rolled out a subscription program in partnership with Hanwha Life on Wednesday.
 
The program offers a monthly financial benefit that can be used at a retailer’s stores in return for a monthly payment.  
 
For example, a subscriber to GS Retail’s subscription service pays 9,500 won per month. In return, they are given four cans of beer for free and 1,500 GS Retail points, which can be used as cash at GS25 convenience stores.  
 
Subscribers get a bonus payment of 6,000 won by Hanwha Life plus a little interest after a year of subscribing to the service.
 
According to GS Retail, members will get benefits of around 30,000 won more than they pay annually.  
 
But benefits accrued in one month cannot be forwarded to the following month.  
 
The program has been designed “for millennials and Generation Z that have a tendency to spend reasonably,” said GS Retail in a statement.  
 
Emart’s subscription service costs 30,000 won per month.
 
In return, subscribers receive Emart mobile vouchers worth 33,000 won and a discount coupon valued at 5,000 won.  
 
The service is open to people between the ages of 19 and 60.  
 
Emart said the reason for the partnership is to “induce customers to revisit” and to offer them “practical convenience.”
 
Emart24, Emart’s convenience store chain, has targeted young stock investors.  
 
The company partnered with Hana Financial Investment to offer a blue chip stock to its customers that buy dosirak and open their first account with the financial company.  
 
Samsung Electronics, Naver and Hyundai Motor were some of the shares that were given for free.
 
The dosirak contained a QR code, through which the buyers could create a Hana Financial Investment account and be given stock.  
 
The promotion, which began in mid-July, was so popular that Emart24 decided to go for a second round, which wrapped up on July 31.
 
A total of 60,000 dosirak sets were sold with the promotions, with more than half of the buyers being people in their 30s or 40s.  
 
Emart24 said customers find such “unique collaborations to be unique and fun.”
 
 

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]
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