Kakao launches KRW 4,900-per-month integrated membership with first-come, first-served enrollment... What are the benefits?

[Financial News] Kakao is launching Kakao Membership, an integrated membership program with a monthly subscription fee of KRW 4,900. It brings together scattered benefits from Kakao's subscription, shopping, content and value-oriented services in one place. Kakao plans to expand the benefits available to users by linking the membership to various services in the future.
The industry reported on the 1st that Kakao had unveiled the benefits and price of Kakao Membership and would begin accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis.
Kakao will offer a range of benefits, including a First Meeting Benefit for new members, as well as Accumulation, Content and Value Benefits. To ensure initial service stability, enrollment will be limited to a small number of users on a first-come, first-served basis.
As part of the First Meeting Benefit, new Kakao Membership subscribers will receive domestic stocks worth KRW 4,900 in a Kakao Pay Securities account and Melon Cash worth a total of KRW 6,000, each provided once. Members under 19 will receive a KRW 5,000 OLIVE YOUNG discount coupon instead of the domestic stocks. The Melon Cash provided as part of the First Meeting Benefit can be used in full or in part for Melon recurring-payment plans and limited-term passes.
The Accumulation Benefit consists of Shopping Points and Kakao Pay Points. Shopping Points equivalent to 0.5%–5% of the payment amount will be credited for KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal purchases, regardless of the payment method, up to 20,000 points per month.
Kakao Pay Points will be credited at 0.5%–1% when users pay with Kakao Pay Money on KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal, and at 0.5%–2% for offline payments, up to 50,000 points per month.
Accumulated Shopping Points and Kakao Pay Points can be used on KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal. Kakao Pay Points can also be used offline, including at convenience stores and cafes.
For the Content Benefit, members can choose between Emoticon Plus and Talk Cloud, each worth KRW 3,900. Users can select one of the two options every month: Emoticon Plus, which allows unlimited downloads of more than 850,000 Kakao emoticons, or a 130-gigabyte (GB) Talk Cloud plan that automatically stores KakaoTalk conversations and media files.
The Value Benefit includes 2,000 Kakao Page Cash, cashback of up to KRW 4,900 on domestic stock-selling commissions through Kakao Pay Securities, compensation of up to KRW 70,000 for cracked phone screens through Kakao Pay Insurance, and a discounted Melon Lite streaming subscription.
Users can receive discounts and accumulate points at the same time by using Kakao Friends coupons, Talk Deal coupons, KakaoTalk Gift coupons and Kakao Pay's Good Deal.
Kakao Membership can be joined through an open-notification message sent to KakaoTalk Channel friends or through the membership menu under More settings. Following the initial first-come, first-served enrollment for a small group of users, Kakao plans to expand membership in stages. Adding Kakao Membership as a KakaoTalk Channel friend will allow users to receive notifications about future recruitment rounds first.
[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter