On May 5 in Mapo District, Seoul, Lee Hae-jin, Naver chair, drew attention after a "samso (samgyeopsal + soju)" get-together with Jensen Huang, Nvidia chief executive (CEO), Chey Tae-won, SK Group chair, and Koo Kwang-mo, LG Group chair, at a barbecue restaurant. Lee not only paid for his own table but also picked up the tab for other guests, using Naver Pay's face payment service "Face Sign." Without a card or phone, he simply faced Naver Pay's payment device "Connect," and the payment finished in one second.
The "samso meeting" has put a spotlight on face payment features offered by Naver Pay and Toss. The two companies are competing by launching their own payment devices and expanding merchant networks. In the industry, some say, "Toss may have moved first in the payment device market, but Naver has heft, so competition will be fierce."
Toss launched its face payment service "Face Pay" in September last year. Face Pay is registered after completing steps such as ID verification, face capture, and card/account linking by accessing the Toss application (app). Face Pay can be used at stores equipped with Toss's payment terminal "Toss Front."
Toss rolled out Toss Front in March 2023 and installed it in 330,000 stores nationwide by April this year. Nine months after launch, Face Pay surpassed 6 million users. Recently, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Franchise Association, further expanding device supply channels.
Naver launched the Connect payment device in November last year. It immediately integrated the Face Sign service, which debuted at the end of 2024, with Connect. Like Toss, Face Sign can be registered after identity verification in the Naver Pay app and used at stores with Connect devices installed. In April, Naver partnered with Paris Baguette, and in March with Retail & Insight, to install Connect in about 7,500 stores.
There is little difference between Naver's and Toss's face payment services themselves. Both rely on their own terminals, and the process from face recognition to payment method confirmation to completion takes about one second.
However, their service goals differ. Toss aims to attract users with "fast and simple payments." Introducing the background of Face Pay's development in September last year, Choi Jun-ho, Toss technical product owner (TPO), said, "What matters most to users is speed and convenience. Toss has found a payment method that is much faster than before and can be used right away with no preparation."
Naver's goal is ecosystem building. It aims to tie users to its services by adding payments to Naver Place, which integrates maps, store information, reviews, and more.
Analysts say the evolving payment environment has also influenced the rivalry between the two companies. According to Bank of Korea statistics, the average daily value of payments made by presenting physical cards last year was 1.405 trillion won, down 0.4% from a year earlier. During the same period, the value of simple payments using mobile devices without physical cards was 1.668 trillion won, up 7.3%.
An industry official said, "The side that secures the simple payment service market first will likely come out ahead in the competition over user scale, such as monthly active users (MAU)."