South Korea’s retail industry is expanding benefits for paid membership customers in order to increase the number of loyal customers and secure profitability.

Shinsegae Group on Thursday unveiled the Shinsegae Universe integrated membership service, which includes six online and offline affiliates such as E-Mart and Starbucks.

Shinsegae plans to provide customers with benefits worth up to US$1,540 per year through a membership fee payback and a 5 per cent discount coupon for both online and offline purchases.

Lotte Home Shopping has also expanded offline benefits for its paid membership service, L.CLUB.

Members can enjoy discounts of up to 20 per cent when staying at Lotte Hotel properties and up to 70 per cent when using Lotte Rental services.

Additionally, members receive a monthly $2.31 discount coupon for Lotte Cinema.

Discount store chain Homeplus also launched an online and offline-integrated free membership service starting this month.

For top-tier VIP+ members, Homeplus offers five different types of shopping coupons, including a discount coupon of up to 12 per cent and a free parking service.

Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. experienced a significant increase in its signature same-day delivery service, Coupang Wow, reaching 11 million members by the end of 2022, with an increase of 2 million in the past year.

Coupang provides various benefits, including rocket delivery, free returns, and free access to the Coupang Play streaming service, for a monthly membership fee of $3.85.

The main driving force behind major retailers’ efforts to attract membership customers is the lock-in effect, as these customers tend to have higher visit frequencies and per-capita purchase values compared to non-member customers.

In the case of Lotte Home Shopping, L.CLUB customers spend an average of six times more annually than general customers.

This story was originally published by J. S. Shin, via Korea Bizwire.