60% of Companies Using Online Platforms Feel Burdened by Fees

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces 'Online Platform Survey'... Targeting 978 User Companies
Only 13% and 10% Responded 'Appropriate' for Fees and Advertising Costs
48% Say "Difficult to Sustain Business Without Using Online Platforms"

Experience of unfair practices while using online platforms.
[Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] Six out of ten companies using online platforms reported feeling burdened by platform fees.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 11th that it conducted an 'Online Platform Survey' from September to October last year targeting 978 companies using online platforms, revealing these results.

Only 13% and 10% responded that the online platform fees and advertising costs were 'appropriate,' respectively. The largest response, 35.4%, indicated that the commission rate on sales through online platforms was '10-15%.' This was followed by 27.7% who said '5-10%.'

About half of the companies experienced unfair practices by platform providers while using online platforms. Among them, 91.8% reported experiencing unfair practices related to fees and transaction procedures.

Nevertheless, since sales through online platforms account for a large portion of total sales, using platforms is essential to maintain and expand sales. Seventy-four percent of companies responded that online platform sales account for more than 50% of their total sales. Additionally, 48% said it would be difficult to continue operations without using online platforms. Ninety percent of companies gave positive responses regarding their intention to continue using online platforms in the future. They cited reasons such as 'help with sales and expansion' (45.7%) and 'difficulty in continuing operations without platform use' (44.3%).

There is also considerable demand for related policy development. Fifty-nine percent of platform-using companies expressed hope for government involvement regarding fees. Demand was recorded for measures such as 'announcement of increase rate guidelines' (25.8%), 'publication of regular surveys' (18.8%), and 'disclosure of fees and encouragement of negotiations' (14.5%).

Park Jongchan, Director of Win-Win Cooperation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "Based on the results of this survey, we will continuously monitor the transaction environment of the online platform market and promote policies that enable mutual growth between platforms and user companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.