Naver said on Oct. 19 it will run its 'Local Growth' campaign in Mokpo and Gwangju to support offline local businesses' artificial intelligence transformation (AX).

From this campaign, it expanded the scope of support beyond training focused on individual solutions to providing bundled services tailored to commercial districts, industries and business characteristics.

It will provide tailored consulting, including waiting and peak-time reservation management for restaurant operators, on-site ordering and review data management for cafe operators, and measures to attract new customers for offline stores.

Depending on business conditions, it will also support the use of linked services such as Smartplace, the integrated offline terminal 'N Pay Connect,' and Naver advertising.

Naver began its campaign for local businesses in Gyeongju last year and expanded it to Busan in the first half of this year. From the second half, it changed the campaign name to 'Local Growth' and is running it in Mokpo and Gwangju.

The first Local Growth programme ran from Oct. 16 to 18 in conjunction with the 'Mokpo Port Festival.' About 50 local businesses, including cafes, restaurants and bookstores, took part, and about 5,800 people joined a promotion to encourage store visits over three days.

Naver said the number of times Place coupons were used at participating stores during the campaign rose 27-fold from the same period before the campaign. The share of businesses that installed 'N Pay Connect' was also 1.7 times higher.

In Gwangju, it will begin a meetup for local businesses on Oct. 30 and run a campaign in conjunction with the Gwangju Coffee Culture Festival 'Dongmyeong Coffee Walk' from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. About 50 shops around Dongmyeong-dong in Gwangju will participate.

It is also reviewing follow-up support for businesses. Naver signed a memorandum of understanding with the Busan Credit Guarantee Foundation in July after the Busan campaign in June and is discussing support such as loan guarantee fees and advertising consulting for Busan-based businesses that use the Naver platform.

In Mokpo, it also held a 'Local Growth meetup' at Haegwan 1897 on Oct. 16. Naver shared cases of supporting growth for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) accumulated online, as well as local brand cases.

Hwang Soon-bae (황순배), head of Naver's Impact Synergy Group, said, "What is unique to a local area is not a limit to growth but a starting point." He said, "We will support businesses so they can broaden connections with customers through solutions such as Smartplace, Smartstore and Adboost."