[Edaily Reporter Lee So-Hyun ] SOCAR(403550)will extend its partnership with Naver Plus Membership for another year. This decision stems from the company’s assessment that its “channeling” strategy—which involves expanding customer touchpoints through partnerships with external platforms—is leading to actual sales growth, as revenue and user engagement from users referred via Naver (NAVER(035420)) have shown double-digit growth rates.

According to the IT industry on the 4th, SOCAR and Naver have extended the Naver Plus Membership benefits for SOCAR car-sharing—which were originally set to expire on the 31st of last month—for one year, through August 31, 2027.

Naver Plus Membership subscribers can receive an additional 5% discount on vehicle rental fees with no limit on the number of uses when booking SOCAR through Naver Reservation. Extended rental fees, liability waiver products, and mileage charges are excluded from the discount, and the offer does not apply to vehicles in the Jeju region.

The extension of the partnership is driven by increased usage. According to SOCAR, from January to August of this year, revenue generated through the Naver channel increased by 24% year-over-year, while usage time rose by 30%. This indicates that users referred from Naver not only took advantage of the discount but also went on to make actual vehicle reservations and used the service for extended periods.

The partnership between SOCAR and Naver began in June 2024. This marks the first instance of “channeling,” in which SOCAR provided its car-sharing service outside of its own application (app). An application programming interface (API) was integrated so that users searching for “SOCAR” or “car sharing” in the Naver app or Naver Maps can view nearby SOCAR zones and vehicles and handle everything—from booking and payment to vehicle use—within Naver. Naver certificates are also used for identity verification and driver’s license validation.

Subsequently, starting last June, the companies expanded their partnership to include Naver Plus Membership. This structure attracts Naver’s large base of search and map users as potential SOCAR customers while increasing actual booking conversions through membership discounts.

SOCAR is expanding this strategy of securing external channels beyond Naver. Last January, it partnered with Nol Universe to allow users to book SOCAR’s round-trip car-sharing and “Delivery (Call)” service—which delivers vehicles to desired locations—through the NOL app. This marks the second channeling initiative following the partnership with Naver.

SOCAR emphasized, “Since launching the Naver channel, we have confirmed the effectiveness of attracting new users through external channels,” adding, “SOCAR aims to create an environment where users can easily access car-sharing services whenever and wherever they need to get around.”