Shinsegae mulls options for investments in SSG Pay, Smile Pay

A customer purchases some items with SSG Pay [Photo provided by Shinsegae]

Shinsegae Group is considering selling stakes in SSG Pay and Smile Pay, its flagship mobile payment service business.

According to industry sources on Friday, Shinsegae is in talks with multiple companies to explore options for partnerships, investment or selling stakes to support the growth of SSG Pay and Smile Pay.

A Shinsegae official said that the group is discussing various options, including partnerships with different companies, to support the growth of SSG Pay and Smile Pay but nothing has been determined yet.

SSG Pay is a mobile payment service that can be used at Shinsegae’s retail channels, such as SSG.com and Starbucks. Shinsegae’s IT subsidiary, Shinsegae Information & Communications Inc., operated the service until 2020 when it transferred ownership to SSG.com. Smile Pay is another mobile payment service used at Shinsegae-owned e-commerce platforms, including Gmarket.

Market observers believe companies like Naver Corp., which has a partnership history with Shinsegae, and Toss, which operates its own mobile payment service, could be potential negotiating partners.

Back in 2021, Shinsegae exchanged shares worth 250 billion won ($190 million) with Naver and the two collaborated in Shinsegae’s acquisition of Gmarket.

If SSG Pay forms a partnership with another company, it could bring a change to the structure of the local mobile payment market that is currently dominated by Kakao Pay, which has a 42.4 percent share, Samsung Pay at 24 percent and Naver Pay at 24 percent. The market is being shaken up with the entry of Apple Pay.