On the 8th, the mobility platform SOCAR announced that it is providing benefits for corporations to reduce fixed costs during the recession through its corporate-exclusive product SOCAR Business.
SOCAR has prepared various benefits to help corporations reduce fixed costs. First, corporations that join SOCAR Business by the end of July will have the subscription fee for the basic product waived for one year. The basic product offers a 60% discount on weekday rental fees and a 50% discount on weekend rental fees for corporate employees, with a monthly subscription fee of 10,000 won. It is the representative product of SOCAR Business, used by over 32,000 employees from more than 2,600 corporations.
When corporations subscribed to the basic product provide corporate-exclusive SOCAR accounts to employees needing to travel, the employees can use SOCAR at discounted prices. Employees can use SOCAR with the corporate account without any separate verification or proof and simply return it afterward. Then, the corporate representatives can check employees' SOCAR usage records through the management solution and settle on the designated date.
Meanwhile, new corporations that sign up during the promotion period will have the first 1,000 managers and employees receive 30,000 SOCAR credits, allowing them to use SOCAR for personal matters as well as for business travel. Additionally, a coffee truck promotion has been prepared to boost employee morale. If the total usage time of corporations that joined SOCAR Business exceeds 50 hours during the promotion period, three corporations will be selected by lottery to receive a premium coffee truck for approximately 500 people to enjoy together until July.
According to data released by the Bank of Korea on the 21st, the number of corporate card issuances in January of this year decreased compared to December of the previous year. This marks the first decline in about seven years since May 2018, likely due to corporations' cost-cutting efforts amid a deteriorating economy. In addition, as major institutions have lowered their economic growth forecasts for South Korea, corporations are seeking various ways to enhance efficiency in difficult circumstances.
Analysis of data from corporate vehicles equipped with SOCAR's corporate-exclusive solution, FMS, indicates that each long-term rental car owned or contracted by corporations was used an average of 12 times per month, with an average usage time of 16 hours and a distance of 104 km. If the monthly usage frequency is less than nine times based on the same criteria, it appears that corporations can reduce fixed cost expenditures by using SOCAR Business.
Jo Eun-jeong, head of SOCAR's Enterprise Group, said, "From a management perspective, SOCAR is being used primarily as a complementary means for long-distance business travel to streamline resources related to vehicle purchases, management, and operation." She noted that, "Just as the paradigm has shifted from ownership to sharing in the B2C sector, we will refine our services to establish SOCAR as a mobility solution that can reduce inefficiencies in the corporate market."