NAVER Celebrates the Fifth Anniversary of Project Flower; ‘Fountain Effect’ Nurtures Ecosystem of Successful SMEs
NAVER Celebrates the Fifth Anniversary of Project Flower; ‘Fountain Effect’ Nurtures Ecosystem of Successful SMEs
NAVER Celebrates the Fifth Anniversary of Project Flower; ‘Fountain Effect’ Nurtures Ecosystem of Successful SMEs
- For the past five years, Project Flower has provided cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, cloud services and big data to 450,000 Smart Stores, 2 million Smart Places and 1.6 million creators
- New SME Fullcare System website to help SMEs’ online and offline businesses get up to speed by supporting their finance, logistics and consulting needs
- Through Project Flower, NAVER is discovering the value of SMEs and creators, supporting their sustainable growth, and creating a ‘fountain effect’ across the economy
2021-04-26
On April 25, NAVER Corporation (KRX: 035420) celebrated the fifth anniversary of Project Flower, its long-term initiative to grow a burgeoning ecosystem of diverse small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and creators using NAVER’s technologies. Financed by NAVER’s Fountain Fund, Project Flower has demonstrated a ‘fountain effect’ of small successes over the past five years that is rippling across a growing community of millions of SMEs both on and offline.
Having provided SMEs and creators with smart tools and data provisioning, Project Flower is now expanding its offerings to finance, logistics and consulting, as part of a unique business ecosystem. With Project Flower, NAVER plans to deliver new values and maintain sustainable growth by proactively identifying challenges faced by SMEs and providing solutions for them.
■ ‘Project Flower’ to advance the evolution of NAVER’s technology platform
Since 2016, NAVER has increased its momentum in making a coexistence model that allows SMEs, creators and companies to grow together through Project Flower. From the start, NAVER wanted to become a platform where SMEs and creators can think outside the box, show their individualities and create their own opportunities in business. NAVER focused on developing and enhancing various solutions based on its state-of-the-art technologies to establish a platform that enables creative and business activities.
The main examples include Smart Store, which allows sellers to upload their products or information to their own online shops; Biz Advisor, which is a data analysis tool that helps set up a business strategy; NAVER Pay, which supports overall order management from membership to delivery tracking and NAVER Pay points accumulation; Chatbot, which is an AI tool that serves customers in a friendly way and Live Commerce, which overcomes the limitations of offline shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, search and artificial intelligence (AI) recommendation technologies have helped connect users and SMEs. AiTEMS and AirSPACE, which analyze users’ preferences and provide personalized search results, allowed eight-and-a-half times more stores and products to be found by consumers and five times more places to be found, compared to general search results.
■ The original goal to get 10,000 start-ups online per year pumped up to 450,000 in just five years
NAVER announced the plan to have 10,000 online start-ups per year at the beginning of Project Flower. But it turned out that NAVER surpassed the original goal significantly with 450,000 joining the platform. Smart Store transactions totaled KRW 17 trillion, providing a silver lining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following online start-ups, offline local SMEs are also benefiting from Project Flower. There are 2 million Smart Place stores so far, and more than 100 local markets expanded their business though digital transformation
“Five years ago, NAVER started Project Flower with the goal of providing attractive services to the general public through a platform that embraces diversity — from local farmers to the owners of local leather workshops,” said Seong-sook Han, CEO of NAVER. “Now, people are listening to the stories of SMEs and creators on the platform, and I can tell the fountain effect of Project Flower is fostering a successful ecosystem.”
■ SME Fullcare System supports SMEs’ finance, logistics, and even consulting needs
With all the small successes brought about by Project Flower, there is a unique business ecosystem continually expanding. NAVER’s various tools and data enable education, logistics, finance, and micro-management consulting for SMEs' sustainable growth.
For example, NAVER’s Smart Store Business Loan, which uses sellers’ activity data and Fast Payout Service—the fastest in the global e-commerce industry, highlighted the need for SME financing. In addition, NAVER expects the recently introduced Expert Biz Consulting Program and NAVER Business School, which are scheduled to open in the second half of the year.
Project Flower will support this expanding SME ecosystem through an exclusive website that has all of the systems SMEs need in one place. The SME Fullcare System website will provide all technical tools, financial programs and valuable courses on online business, compulsory insurance, etc.
At the same time, NAVER plans to strengthen its fulfillment system that provides customized solutions to help SMEs to focus on their business without worrying about logistics. To expand business globally, NAVER will further develop logistics technology, like CLOVA Forecast and launch various solutions to support SMEs.
■ SMEs say ‘NAVER is my energy’ in celebration of Project Flower’s fifth anniversary
Meanwhile, in commemoration of Project Flower’s fifth anniversary, SMEs are praising NAVER’s program. Designer Eumjeong Park, who runs the handbag brand UM New York at NAVER Designer Window, said, “By using the platform and technology provided by NAVER, we continue to reach new customers and increase sales by 80 times through various featured collections on Designer Window. I received a lot of help from marketing for brand operation.”
A NAVER official said, “NAVER is working hard to help each seller achieve success utilizing its cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, big data and cloud service. We will continue to provide support to discover the value of brilliant content, stores and creators on our platform, and to bring a 'fountain effect' to the economy.”
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