Gift Delivery Fee Abuse 'Kakao', Provides 9.2 Billion Won Support to Suppliers

[Financial News] Regarding the allegation that 'KakaoTalk Gift' forced suppliers to display free shipping with prices including delivery fees, Kakao has proposed a voluntary correction plan. In the future, suppliers will be able to freely decide whether to include delivery costs in the product price. A total of 9.2 billion won worth of support will be provided to suppliers and others.
 The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 21st that it had finalized the consent decision related to Kakao's alleged violation of the 'Act on Fair Transactions in Large-Scale Distribution' on the 15th.
 The consent decision system is a system where a business under investigation for alleged legal violations proposes voluntary correction measures such as damage relief and improvement of transaction order, and if the Fair Trade Commission collects opinions from interested parties and recognizes that the correction measures are valid, it defers judgment on whether the law was violated and focuses on the prompt implementation of the correction measures to conclude the case.
 Through the consent decision, Kakao allowed suppliers to freely decide whether to include delivery costs in the product price based on their business judgment. Until now, only the method of setting a selling price including delivery costs and bearing the sales commission based on that total could be used. In the future, suppliers will be able to consider business advantages and disadvantages, set sales prices and delivery costs separately, and choose methods such as paid shipping where only the sales price is subject to commission.
 Even if suppliers switch from free shipping to paid shipping, consumers can purchase products at the same price as before without additional burden. For example, a product previously sold for 10,000 won including delivery costs will be displayed on the consumer screen as a product price of 7,000 won and a delivery cost of 3,000 won, but can still be purchased for 10,000 won.
 Kakao also proposed measures to reduce suppliers' commission burdens and support marketing.
 To reduce commissions, it included △lowering electronic payment agency fees (PG fees) △freezing consignment sales commissions △not imposing payment fees on delivery costs. For marketing support, it plans to provide △discount marketing and compensation for discount amounts △free cash for advertising △customized consulting, totaling at least 9.2 billion won.
 Meanwhile, this decision is the first case applied to an online shopping mall since the consent decision system was introduced in the Large-Scale Distribution Act in July 2022. Previously, Kakao prepared a voluntary correction plan to improve the transaction order in the online shopping mall market and promote win-win cooperation with suppliers and applied for a consent decision in October 2024. The Fair Trade Commission decided to initiate the consent decision procedure on January 10 this year. 



junjun@fnnews.com Choi Yongjun Reporter