Naver said on Wednesday it will launch a support programme to expand its online digital transformation (DX) experience into an offline and merchant AI transformation (AX) ecosystem.

From June, it will start the Place Merchant DX Growth Support Program, providing on-site consulting for 10,000 Naver Place merchants a year so they can develop analysis capabilities by turning overall operations such as visits, orders, reservations and payments into data. From April 28, it will run Place School, solution training for about 8,000 offline merchants a year.

Naver plans to upgrade its Be Local Week campaign, which brands local commercial districts, and run it in up to 3 regions this year after Gyeongju last year.

It will also upgrade its Growth Mileage programme, which supports Smart Store merchants with artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and technical tools. From the third quarter, it will expand the eligible participants and range of technical tools, targeting support for 20,000 merchants a year.

It will expand support for its AI advertising automation solution AdVoost to about 10,000 merchants. A report published in December said merchants that adopted AdVoost saw a 60 percent increase each in new buyers and the number of orders.

Naver will also start providing technical support for Naver Login, TalkTalk, Naver Pay and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to operators of external brand stores.

Naver CEO Soo-yeon Choi (최수연) said, "The experience and execution capability we have accumulated in the online DX process are assets for responding to the new AX paradigm." She added, "We will expand that experience into the offline and AI ecosystem and support merchants and creators in widening opportunities to use AI through technology and infrastructure."