CHANGWON — South Gyeongsang Province said on the 15th that sales at its public online shopping mall, e-Gyeongnam Mall, reached 10.2 billion won through the third quarter of this year, up 7.4% from the same period a year earlier.
The number of participating vendors rose to 970, with 95 newly added this year. Membership increased by 15,000 to 145,000.
Under an activation strategy adopted in February, the province revised its vendor participation rules and expanded the range of products on offer in cooperation with the Small Enterprise and Market Service. It created a separate category for items eligible for next-day delivery and set up a free-shipping product section. In the second half of the year, it ran joint promotions with e-Jeju Mall featuring cross-sales of regional specialty products.
The province also plans to upgrade its systems to make purchasing easier. It will integrate its ordering and procurement systems to strengthen real-time processing, and improve the user interface and user experience. Customized services such as product recommendations and price-change alerts will also be introduced.
Starting on the 29th of this month, the mall will hold a special promotion tied to the Korea Grand Festival, offering 15% discount coupons on all products, capped at 15,000 won. From November, new members will receive 3,000-won discount coupons.
"The steady growth of e-Gyeongnam Mall is the result of both expanding online sales channels for local small business owners and residents buying regional products," said Kim In-soo, director general of the province's economy and trade bureau. "Through a variety of promotions and service improvements, we will make sure this translates into real help for small business revenue and the local economy."