Kakao Bundles KakaoTalk, Pay and Melon—and Enters the Membership War

[Financial News] Kakao has unveiled its first integrated membership program, bringing together benefits that had been scattered across shopping, payment and content services within the Kakao Group. The strategy is designed to connect KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal with Kakao Pay, Melon, emoticons, financial services and insurance, keeping users within the Kakao ecosystem and encouraging them to use more of its services. In particular, with a monthly subscription fee of 4,900 won—the same as Naver Plus Membership—the competition between the two companies is expected to shift from pricing to the benefits and service ecosystems they offer.■ Shop, pay and use it again within KakaoTalkAccording to industry sources on the 1st, Kakao Membership brings together Kakao Group's key services—from shopping and payment to content, finance and insurance—under a single paid subscription. It is focused on creating a cycle in which users purchase products through KakaoTalk, earn points and then use them again across Kakao's services.
The centerpiece is the points program built around KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal. Regardless of the payment method, subscribers earn 0.5%–5% of their payment amount in Shopping Points, up to 20,000 points per month. When they pay with Kakao Pay Money, they can earn an additional 0.5%–1% in Kakao Pay Points on KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal purchases, and 0.5%–2% at offline stores.
The accumulated points are spent again within the Kakao ecosystem. Both Shopping Points and Kakao Pay Points can be used on KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal, while Kakao Pay Points can also be used offline at convenience stores, cafes and other locations. Rather than simply collecting discounts from multiple services, the program connects shopping, payment and repeat purchases.
Content and everyday services are included as well. Each month, subscribers can choose between Emoticon Plus, worth 3,900 won, and a 130-gigabyte (GB) Talk Cloud plan. Other benefits include 2,000 cash on Kakao Page, up to 4,900 won in cashback on domestic stock-selling fees through Kakao Pay Securities, compensation of up to 70,000 won for mobile-phone screen damage through Kakaopay Insurance, and a discounted subscription to Melon Streaming Lite.
New subscribers will receive, once, 4,900 won worth of domestic stocks in their Kakao Pay Securities account and a total of 6,000 won in Melon cash. Members under 19 will receive a 5,000-won OLIVE YOUNG discount coupon instead of the domestic stocks.
To stabilize the service in its early stages, Kakao plans to accept subscriptions on a first-come, first-served basis from a small number of users before gradually expanding the subscriber base.■ The same 4,900 won... The battle will be over the 'benefits ecosystem'Kakao's launch of the integrated membership is viewed as an effort to connect users acquired through KakaoTalk with various services across the group, including shopping, payment, content and finance. The program is designed to secure subscription revenue by increasing membership, while its points benefits encourage users to spend again within the Kakao platform.
The program is expected to create particularly strong synergies with Kakao's commerce business. In the second quarter, the combined transaction value of KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal, known as TalkBiz Commerce, reached 2.7 trillion won, up 9% from a year earlier. By placing KakaoTalk Gift and Talk Deal at the center of its membership rewards, Kakao can seek to increase purchase frequency among existing KakaoTalk users and encourage repeat spending.
Attention is now turning to the competition with Naver Plus Membership. Although Kakao is the latecomer, it did not offer a lower price than NAVER and instead set the same monthly fee of 4,900 won. The key battleground is expected to be how effectively each company bundles its services and benefits to retain users, rather than price discounts.
The two companies have different membership strategies. NAVER offers up to 5% in points on payments for shopping, reservations and other services, while expanding partnerships with content providers such as Netflix and Spotify and external partners such as Kurly N Mart. It has also introduced 'Super Regulars,' which provides additional points when customers repurchase within 90 days a product bought from a participating store.
Kakao, by contrast, has initially focused on connecting services it already offers within the group—including KakaoTalk Gift, Talk Deal, Kakao Pay, Melon, Kakao Page, emoticons, insurance and securities—through a single membership. While NAVER has expanded the reach of its membership through external partnerships, Kakao is seeking to increase users' spending and service usage by closely linking its in-house services around KakaoTalk.
Meanwhile, NAVER is also moving quickly to strengthen its membership benefits. Following its partnership with Netflix, NAVER's quarterly membership revenue rose by more than 16%, while Kurly N Mart's transaction value increased about tenfold from its initial level within a year of launch. Starting in November, 'N Delivery dawn delivery,' which was previously available to regular subscribers as well, will become exclusive to members. Last year, NAVER Plus Membership revenue reached 235.7 billion won, up 20.7% from the previous year.
[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter