Naver boosting support on small biz, content creator
Naver CEO Han Seong-sook speaks during a press conference at the company’s Partner Square office in Haeundae, Busan, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Naver
By Yoon Sung-won
BUSAN ― Naver is pushing to foster business platform operation for small enterprises and individual content creators by establishing support centers throughout the nation, the company said Wednesday.
Naver CEO Han Seong-sook pledged to boost the initiative to vitalize a bottom-up economic structure in Korea led by small businesses, instead of the top-down system controlled by major conglomerates.
“We have already witnessed that the so-called trickle-down effect led by large enterprises is not very effective. What we are attempting to realize is the foundation effect made by great individuals,” Han said during a press conference in Busan, Wednesday.
“We believe that this is what Naver can do best. We promise to become a platform operator that facilitates entrepreneurs to start their businesses.”
Toward that end, the nation’s top internet service company launched its second Partner Square branch in Haeundae, Busan. The first Partner Square office was opened in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, earlier in May 2013. The Yeoksam office is providing lectures on e-commerce, taxation and customer management for small business entrepreneurs for free.
Besides lectures and consulting, the Haeundae office also focuses on infrastructure support for video content creators. It has devices such as a 360-degree virtual reality camera, live broadcasting studios and audio rooms.
Last year, when Naver was led by former CEO Kim Sang-hun, the company said it would boost business platform operations for small businesses and individual content creators under a project it calls “Flower.”
Han said the project aims at helping small businesses that are increasingly losing opportunities amid aggravating gentrification in highly populated areas such as Mapo, Seongsu and Mangwon in Seoul, through technologies.
“Until now, search engines offered most-read articles and best-selling products. We are introducing technologies to provide more personalized search results on everything. We would like to call it ‘de-gentrification,” Han said.
“As internet business platforms expand through technological advancement, more small businesses and content creators will be able to find business opportunities on the platform.”
Naver said it will continue the initiative even if it hurts profitability. The company said the project will help it expand its database on e-commerce, especially in the online shopping sector.
Naver is planning to establish two additional Partner Square branches in Gwangju this year and in Daejeon by next year. Once the company opens the Daejeon branch next year, the Partner Square program will be able to attract some 100,000 small business owners and individual content creators under its network annually throughout the nation, Han said.
Naver said still only a few firms are actively using such platforms for their businesses although internet service providers try to expand online business platforms to lower the entrance barrier for small firms.
Citing a 2015 research project by Statistics Korea, the company said only 300,000 small businesses and content creators have registered their business information with online platforms such as Naver. This is 6 percent of the 4.79 million businesses in Korea.
Naver also said even fewer small businesses in non-capital areas are using online business platforms. It said 80 percent of the small businesses and content creators registered with its free online shopping startup platform Store Farm are in the capital region. Only about 50 percent of the nation’s total self-employed business people are based in the metropolitan area.
“We believe that the Partner Square initiative can play a key role in settling the local gap in small businesses by providing them with resources for success,” Han said.