South Korea’s retail giant Shinsegae Group on Thursday unveiled its newest paid membership, Shinsegae Universe Club, an integrated online and offline membership program that offers a wide range of services at its shopping outlets.

The membership is applied to customers of six affiliates under Shinsegae Group, including Shinsegae Department Store, Shinsegae Duty Free, Emart, and Starbucks. Shinsegae Group is working on collaborating with partners in other sectors such as Korean Air Lines Co. to expand the membership benefits.

The retail giant showed confidence that it can create loyal customers, using the broad membership with a wide range of benefits.

“Shinsegae Universe Club is a result of our collective data, experience and knowhow, and logistics infrastructure,” the company said. “Membership will be the best way to maximize customer satisfaction.”

The benefits of the membership are various and comprehensive. Customers can get cashable benefits once they join the membership. For example, the membership has an annual fee of 30,000 won ($23.08), but club members get the equivalent cashable vouchers they can use at any six affiliates. They can also enjoy a discount of 5 percent at SSG.com and Gmarket.

The membership also offers offline benefits, including monthly vouchers of 5 percent that can be used at Emart discount stores 4 times every month and 5 percent discounts on purchases of fashion items at Shinsegae Department Stores.

Benefits also stretch to Startbucks, the most popular brand under the Shinsegae Group.

Club members can earn one more star reward for every purchased drink. Under the Starbucks rewards program, customers earn one star per purchase and can redeem 12 stars for a free drink, so the club members only need to make six purchases.

“The Universe Club focuses on delivering benefits in many areas of our daily life, and the membership is adding more benefits across sectors to become more competitive,” said Lee In-young, chief executive officer of SSG.com.

By Kim Gyu-sik and Han Yubin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]