[코로나 임팩트] 80% of the wealthy money is KakaoTalk…

In 2020, the Earth was’connected’ with a virus. It is the strongest connection since the Internet. 2020 is Corona 19.

The busy daily life of modern people has stopped due to Corona 19. The shock of the sudden stop tested the health of individuals and society. In the prevalent’corona blue (depression)’, the resilience of the body and mind has become more important than ever. Now you can see a new life beyond inertia. 2021 is a rediscovery of life.

The world has already changed. The faceless relationship, care beyond forced sacrifices, and daily life that respect tastes are the’New Normal’ of a hyperconnected society.

‘The nation of ceremonial occasions’ has changed. Corona has stopped taking steps for congratulations and condolences in the Confucian face culture. This is the result of analyzing movement data before and after the corona (average on January 1-20 last year) in Kakao Mobility’s navigation app’Kakao T’. At the end of February of last year, the first spread of the corona, leisure activities (leisure, parks, lodging) and congratulations and condolences (wedding halls, funeral halls) were cut in half to -41% and -43%, respectively.

In early May and mid-October when the corona momentum declined, leisure movement increased to +95% and +41% compared to before the corona, but congratulations and condolence movements were still reduced to -2% and -22%. It became natural to enjoy my leisure instead of visiting other people’s events. In fact, the number of condolence visitors who visited the Samsung Medical Center’s funeral hall in August-December last year decreased to an average of 81 people per small place, to a third of the average of the same period last year (251).

‘Mobile heart remittance’ is also a clear example. Na Mo, 33, married in Gyeonggi-do in December of last year, received 80% of the congratulatory gift envelope through Kakao Talk. Mr. Na said, “The people who give me were a little embarrassed, but I was curious and thankful for taking care of me like this.” The amount of use of’gift envelopes’ that puts a wedding greeting on Kakao Pay remittances increased 100% in August and 353% in December than before the coronavirus (January).

The myth that’you have to drink alcohol to come true’ has been broken. As telecommuting became longer, companies began to think about a new organizational culture. LG Chem introduced Smart Work to all 18,500 office and technical employees in Korea, the United States, Europe, and China in April of last year. Work as a collaborative solution, and video for meetings. However, the use of documents has been reduced. The volume of the report was limited to two or less, and communication was conducted by phone or e-mail. An artificial intelligence (AI) real-time interpretation and translation function that learned technical terms was attached to in-house messengers and e-mails. This is to reduce the coldness and misunderstanding that comes from non-face-to-face, and to improve the quality of communication between employees.

Deok-jin Jang, professor of sociology at Seoul National University, said, “I forcibly reduced various networks maintained by Koreans because of the corona, but I learned what networks are not essential for work performance. It will operate more efficiently.”

With Corona 19, the value of caring and housekeeping labor was rediscovered through the caring riots that do not go to work or daycare centers, and three times or three ‘Dolbap-dolbap’ (rice when you return). It is an area that was solved with sincerity and sacrifice because of low trust and low quality such as’I live only when I see it myself’ and’I can’t leave it to others’. What changed this was mobile technology.

Shin Mo (69), a housewife living in Ahyeon-dong, Seoul, was freed from a shopping cart after Corona 19. When you order ingredients and food in the evening with an app that your daughter has installed, it is at the door the next morning. Before that, I drove once a week and bought and carried heavily at a crowded hypermarket. According to Market Curly operator Curly, the use of’Satbyul Delivery’ by middle and elderly people in their 50s or more last year increased sharply. It is an age group where heavy shopping carts are burdensome. Last year, the number of new subscribers increased by 109% compared to the previous year, 142% for those in their 50s and above, and 170% for those in their 60s and above. The proportion of members in their 50s or older accounts for 20% of all Market Curly members.

Child care has also crossed the threshold of the family. Since August of last year, SK has entrusted an online care program for employees’ children to the child care startup Tikkak Crocodile. Employees’ children do art, cooking, music, and foreign language activities with their caring teacher in real-time video at home. So far, more than 500 children have participated, and the satisfaction of parents (employees) is 9.7 out of 10. When the reaction was good, Tikkak Crocodile started a’tickkak box’ that expanded it to general consumers.

‘A home is a sleeping place, a workplace is a battlefield’ (next’urban people’). This song from 1992 was true for 30 years, but it is not. The house has turned into a complex space of work, rest, and culture. The interior of the’live’ has become important.

This is also confirmed in consumption. In February-June last year, indoor items such as diffusers and scented candles were sold 2.3 times compared to the same period last year on online shopping at Sec.com. Sales of expensive mattresses also increased by 24.3%. In the second half of last year (July-December), when the corona spread for the second and third times, the house began to be reworked altogether. Purchases of self-interior products such as paint, sheet paper, and tools surged 5.4 times the same period last year. I bought a lot of clothes that are more comfortable to wear at home than for events. From February to June of last year, homeware sales increased 83% compared to the same period last year, showing more than twice the growth rate of suit sales (30.3% for men and 27.5% for women).

The concept of lodging is also changing. Unless it was a luxury hotel, the most important thing in staying was the distance to the attractions. But last year, lodging, where you can rent the entire house and experience the space itself, has emerged. Stayfolio, a startup that operates a related lodging platform, increased 20% of the number of lodging establishments that entered the corona 19 last year. “The interest in the interior of the space has increased due to the influence of working from home,” said the head of the company, Gyeong-Hoon Baek. “Even though the average price per night was 350,000 won, the rate of consecutive stays increased last year.”

Global economy, global trend… ‘Global’ was a universal prefix. Instead of global compulsion, Corona 19 made us look back at our neighborhood. As commuting to the office decreased, the neighborhood of the house became more important. At the same time, the number of individual investors looking to the New York Stock Market as a front yard has increased.

Park Mo (41), an employee of a global IT company, worked remotely from his home in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul throughout the year. I woke up every afternoon according to the local time in the U.S., and more and more days to find a store near my house. On the one hand, interest in the US stock market increased, so they bought Tesla and other stocks as a mobile app. Park said, “Even in Seoul, it is no different from domestic stock investment because we get real-time information through apps from domestic securities companies and overseas media.”

According to Deloitte’s report on the 2021 Commercial Real Estate Outlook published last month, 23% of industry leaders in the Asia-Pacific region predict that rental income will fall by more than 20% next year. However, among them, real estate for offices, hotels, and distribution businesses were expected to be negative, and real estate for medical and data centers were expected to be positive.

Jong-rin Mo, a professor at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, explained this as “the era of’local+contact’ in which the center is shifting from city to living area.” The high density of cities after the coronavirus is no longer competitive. Professor Mo said, “The growth and job creation centered on large corporations are over. Now, there should be houses, jobs, and commercial facilities in the neighborhood.” It is not a huge industrial complex, but a small business owner’s job opening in the streets and shops of the neighborhood. In order to do that, it is argued that the perspective of viewing the neighborhood as only the object of the’welfare policy’ needs to be changed, and a finely customized commercial district policy at the eup, myeon-dong unit should be introduced.

Reporters Shim Seo-hyun and Ha Sun-young [email protected]
Video Planning = Reporter Jeong Jong-hoon and Kim Tae-ho