Kurly buys Paybot as part of its planned evolution

Kurly, operator of e-commerce platform Market Kurly, acquired online payments service provider Paybot, with plans to develop its own payment system and become a so-called "open market" platform.

The company announced Monday it acquired a 100 percent stake in Paybot, a local payment gateway start-up that facilitates transactions by authorizing credit cards or processing direct payments.

With the acquisition, Kurly plans to develop its own online payment system to use on Market Kurly. Customers currently purchase items on Market Kurly using payment systems such as Naver Pay, Smile Pay, Chai, Kakao Pay, Toss and Payco.

Once the online payment service is developed, the company announced that customers will be able to earn Market Kurly loyalty points and enjoy further benefits.

It will develop a system within its online payment service that makes settling payments for outside sellers easier.

Kurly plans to transform Market Kurly into a open market retailing model, a e-commerce system in which individual sellers can enter the platform and are charged a commission for selling. Until now, Market Kurly has been directly buying the products they sell to the customers.

With the change, Kurly expects its e-commerce platform to carry more types of products.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]