The mobile payment market in South Korea is heating up with Naver Pay, Korea’s second-largest mobile payment provider, and Samsung Pay partnering up to strengthen each other’s businesses in the country.
In an announcement, Samsung Electronics and Naver Financial said the deal will allow Samsung Pay users in Korea to make payments conveniently at online merchants that support the Naver Pay platform. This includes up to 550,000 businesses featured on the Naver Smart Store.
In return, Naver Pay is set to benefit by gaining access to offline payments through Samsung Pay’s MST network at all offline merchants that support the Samsung Pay platform across the country.
The move follows recent confirmation that Apple will soon be entering the Korean market after finally gaining regulatory approval to allow local credit card firms to introduce the Apple Pay service. Initially, only Hyundai Card holders will be able to use the Apply Pay service via iPhones and other Apple devices.
In response, the new partnership between the two domestic heavyweights is expected to deliver a stronger online presence to Samsung Pay while Naver Pay has increased its ground in offline retail spaces.
According to Naver Financial CEO, Park Sang-Jin, up to 31.5 million Naver Pay users could experience the benefits of Samsung pay, both online and offline, as a result of the collaboration.
Naver Pay and Samsung Pay are currently among the three largest mobile payment providers in South Korea, outperformed only by Kakao Pay. A competitive market is set to soon become even stronger. However, details of the release of Apple’s Pay platform are still unknown and expected to be released in the coming months.
