"Do Small Business Owners Really Have to Worry About Naver Ratings on Top of Everything Else?"

[Financial News] "Now small business owners have to worry about Naver ratings too."
As Naver has revived its place review rating system after five years, confusion is spreading among small business owners. According to industry sources on the 20th, Naver announced on the 9th that it would once again display accumulated star ratings on place reviews for cafes, restaurants and other businesses. This comes five years after it stopped collecting rating-based reviews in October 2021, and business owners can now choose whether to display their average rating.
The move has sparked growing frustration among small business owners. In a recent statement, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises (KFME) said, "We cannot hide our anger at a decision that seems determined to rank small business owners again, putting traffic sales ahead of their survival." It added, "This measure forgets the painful history of small business owners who suffered from indiscriminate rating attacks and malicious reviews," and said it "expresses deep concern and strong regret."
In online communities for small business owners, many are lamenting, "Do we now have to run review events just to beg for Naver ratings?" A business owner identified as A, who is active on the Naver Café 'Apeunikka Sajangida,' said, "Managing Naver ratings has now become essential." B added, "Now that Naver has brought back the rating feature, I have a lot to worry about. The gap in how customers see things is just too stark."
Some also argue that Naver ratings may be disadvantageous for older businesses. KFME said it also finds it hard to understand Naver's policy of including accumulated data from before 2022 in its rating calculations. The group pointed out that "data from years ago will become an unreasonable chain that holds small business owners back."
Another business owner, identified as C and active on the Naver Café 'Apeunikka Sajangida,' noted, "For stores that opened before 2022, the default setting is public, so Naver ratings may appear as they are, which makes it even more urgent to check." D also urged, "Older businesses need to pay even more attention to their Naver ratings."
[email protected] Kang Kyung-rae Reporter