Shinsegae Group launches new paid membership program

Shinsegae Group on Thursday unveiled a new paid membership program that spans across its online and offline services in an attempt to cater to customers' diverse needs.

From left, Lee In-yeong, co-CEO of SSG.com, Kang Hewie, CEO of Emart and co-CEO of SSG.com, and Chun Hang-il, CEO of Gmarket, pose for a photo at the Shinsegae Universe Festival held at COEX in southern Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Shinsegae Group on Thursday unveiled a new paid membership program that spans across its online and offline services in an attempt to cater to customers' diverse needs.

Called the Shinsegae Universe Club, the membership offers benefits to customers of its six most-used Shinsegae Group affiliates: Emart, Shinsegae Department Store, SSG.com, Gmarket, Shinsegae Duty Free and Starbucks.

“We aim to maximize customer satisfaction by leveraging our extensive expertise in products and services, utilizing vast data from online and offline platforms and our robust logistics infrastructure,” the group stated.

With an annual membership fee of 30,000 won ($23), members can immediately begin earning rewards equivalent to the fee upon registration and enjoy a complimentary one-month trial, after signing up for the service.

Upon joining, members can gain access to 30,000 won in cash benefits, which can be utilized across Emart, Shinsegae Department Store, SSG.com, Gmarket and Shinsegae Duty Free. Those joining through Starbucks receive five beverage coupons as an extra perk.

Additionally, all Shinsegae Universe Club members can enjoy a 5 percent discount at Emart, Shinsegae Department Store, SSG.com and Gmarket.

At Starbucks, members can earn an extra "star" for every beverage purchase (up to five per month), allowing them to earn a free beverage coupon faster, while at Shinsegae Duty Free, members can receive a 10,000 won discount applicable to downtown duty-free shops, airport duty-free shops, and online duty-free shops. Shinsegae Group said it is planning to include Emart's convenience store chain Emart24, Shinsegae Food and Starfield shopping mall in the membership program. This expansion will broaden the range of benefits to encompass the shopping, dining and leisure sectors.

The conglomerate also unveiled plans to extend the membership program to external partners. It is pursuing benefit partnerships with companies across diverse industries, including telecommunications, aviation, finance, gaming and delivery platforms.

The membership program is part of their overarching “Shinsegae Universe” vision presented by Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin, aiming to seamlessly integrate the online and offline experiences for customers within the Shinsegae ecosystem.

Shinsegae highlighted the potential for all channels within the Shinsegae Universe, ranging from major manufacturers to independent sellers, to broaden their distribution reach across different platforms. For instance, sellers who used to solely operate online now have the chance to tap into offline channels such as Emart, while companies that traditionally focused on offline channels can now venture into online marketplaces like Gmarket.

Expanding their business-to-business (B2B) transactions is another crucial objective for Shinsegae.

Through the introduction of the integrated membership program, Shinsegae Group said it will enhance partnerships with some 850,000 collaborating companies. The conglomerate set a long-term objective of increasing current B2B sales, which currently stand at around 2 trillion won, to 5 trillion won, to achieve a growth rate of over 50 percent in the overall transaction volume within a span of five years.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]