Key facts
- Naver Pay is the most widely used mobile payment platform in South Korea.
- 64.7% of mobile payment users in the past month used Naver Pay.
- Kakao Pay ranked second with 49.8% usage.
- Toss Pay followed with 31.1% usage.
- Reward points and discount benefits were key reasons for Naver Pay's popularity.
- Kakao Pay led the mobile money transfer segment with 45.2% share.
Naver Pay has secured the top position in South Korea's mobile payment market, primarily due to its attractive reward points and promotional benefits, according to industry data released Sunday. The platform was utilized by 64.7% of consumers who had used a mobile payment service in the past month, according to a report by market researcher Open Survey. Kakao Pay followed as the second most popular service with 49.8% usage, while Toss Pay secured third place with 31.1%. In the specific segment of mobile money transfers, Kakao Pay emerged as the leader with a 45.2% share, followed by Toss Pay at 32.6% and Naver Pay at 22.3%. The report indicated that nearly 40% of users chose Kakao Pay for money transfers because it was the service used by the recipient, highlighting the significance of network effects in peer-to-peer transactions.