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[NAVER D-Place Report 2022]

NAVER SmartPlace Drives Connection Between Local Businesses and Potential Consumers, Leading to Actual Sales Growth

- Research conducted on restaurants and hair salons that can utilize various SmartPlace solutions proved increased customer inflow and confirmed sales growth
- An additional sales of KRW 3.3 trillion yearly is expected when all registered restaurants and hair salons use SmartPlace solutions
- Using the solutions significantly increases the user inflow, and more than half of businesses confirmed that they are willing to continue using them
- NAVER SmartPlace is growing as a “total” platform for local businesses with various solutions, including NAVER Booking, Order, Place advertisements, etc. 

December 29, 2022

NAVER released on December 28th the “NAVER D-PLACE REPORT 2022” based on the research findings by Professor Kim Jiyoung of Sungkyunkwan University Business School and his research team, on the effects of supporting off-line businesses with the SmartPlace solutions. The research showed NAVER SmartPlace provides practical assistance to local businesses by increasing sales and securing potential customers. The NAVER D-PLACE REPORT has been published since last year to examine the usage and value of the SmartPlace platform for local businesses and determine the role and direction of the platform through data-based empirical analysis.

 

 

The NAVER SmartPlace platform offers various technology solutions that efficiently support local businesses without any cost. In addition to solutions for sales management and customer service, such as NAVER Booking, NAVER Order, Talktalk, and SmartCall, the platform also provides advertising solutions such as Place ads and Local SME ads, tailored to the local business environment. Recently, marketing solutions that can directly deliver benefits to the customers, such as Talktalk marketing messages and Place coupons, were added, making it a “total” platform that assists businesses throughout their growth stages. Currently, about 2.27 million businesses are registered with NAVER SmartPlace.

 

Professor Kim’s research team analyzed the impact of different solutions (NAVER Booking, NAVER Order, Talktalk, SmartCall, Place advertisements, and Local SME advertisements) on attracting potential customers and studied the satisfaction level of local businesses for each solution. The research mainly focused on restaurants and hair salons as they can incorporate various solutions because of the nature of their businesses.
 
SmartPlace solutions drive higher user traffic and sales… with restaurant sales growing threefold and hair salon sales surging by 31 times.

According to the research, SmartPlace solutions had a beneficial effect on local businesses as they were able to attract potential customers and increase their sales. First, SmartPlace solutions were found to attract more users to the business’ Place page. Then, with the help of the solutions, the number of users visiting the page increased by 1.5 times for restaurants and 12.9 times for hair salons. By solution, the use of NAVER Booking led to the largest increase (3.1 times), and Local SME advertisements (3.1 times), Place (2.5 times), Talktalk (2.2 times), and SmartCall (1.2 times) all contributed to the growth of user inflow.

 

In addition to the user traffic, the number of times the places were “saved,” which indicates the users’ willingness to visit the place, increased. Place advertisements increased the number by 3.6 times, and Local SME advertisements (2.7 times), NAVER Booking (1.8 times), Talktalk (1.3 times), and SmartCall (1.3 times) all made the places more likely to be saved by users.
 
In terms of a potential increase in sales caused by the use of SmartPlace solutions, it was projected that restaurants could generate about KRW 4.36 million more in sales yearly by using SmartPlace solutions, and hair salons could generate about KRW 18.45 million more yearly. This means three times for restaurants and 31 times for hair salons. If all restaurants and hair salons registered with SmartPlace use one solution or more, it could lead to additional annual sales of KRW 3.3 trillion.
 
High satisfaction ratings across all solutions of SmartPlace … more than half of businesses confirmed that they want to continue using them

Professor Kim’s research team also conducted a satisfaction survey on 717 business operators who used SmartPlace solutions. The survey was conducted for 25 days starting September 13 to qualitatively evaluate how the local businesses are using the solutions in actual sales environments and what benefits they provide.
 
According to the survey results, businesses are using three to four solutions on average, and the primary reasons for using them were that these solutions “help attract and manage new customers with convenience” and “facilitate efficient operation and sales growth.” The results also revealed that the average satisfaction rating (out of 5 points) given by businesses was high for all solutions: SmartCall (4.08), Booking (3.85), Place (3.83), Local SME advertisements (3.48), and Talktalk (3.31). More than half of the businesses confirmed that they want to continue using the solutions.
 
Professor Kim’s team said, “We have confirmed that SmartPlace platform can provide local businesses with economic benefits and positive business outcomes. With the current wave of digital transformation, we anticipate that businesses will achieve long-term growth by leveraging digital functionalities like NAVER SmartPlace solutions.”
 
“By connecting local businesses with users online as a start, NAVER has been conducting R&D on SmartPlace solutions to attract more potential customers offline as well and establish a more convenient sales environment,” said Lee Keon-su, head of Glace CIC. “We are pleased that these efforts have yielded practical results by SmartPlace solutions, and we’ll continue to increase our technological investments in the future.”

 

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