The Flood of 'Paid Memberships'... Consumer Reactions Revealed

49% of Respondents "Subscribed to 1-2 Memberships"

As the distribution industry launches various paid memberships to attract customers, consumer responses to membership subscriptions have been found to be mixed.

On the 20th, market research firm Embrain Trend Monitor announced the results of the "2023 Online Shopping Mall Usage and Paid Membership Awareness Survey," conducted on 1,000 men and women aged 19 to 59 nationwide with online shopping experience. According to the results, 79.8% of respondents had experience subscribing to paid memberships. In particular, 49.8% of respondents answered that they "use multiple membership services but currently subscribe to only one or two frequently used ones."

Consumers highly valued the fact that paid membership services offer cost-effectiveness by providing benefits beyond the subscription fee.

Among all respondents, 7 out of 10 showed a high level of agreement (71.4% agreement rate) with the statement that "if you frequently use online shopping, you can receive greater benefits compared to the subscription fee paid," and a considerable number (69.5%) also responded that "for consumers who regularly purchase food or daily necessities, using memberships can be considered a rational consumption method in an era of high prices."

On the other hand, a significant number pointed out that "unless you shop frequently, it is difficult to gain benefits equivalent to the subscription fee paid (79.4% agreement rate)." There were also opinions that consumers might overspend to obtain benefits equivalent to the subscription fee (73.5%) and that the structure is more advantageous to companies than consumers in the long term (63.0%).

Despite the mixed public reactions to paid membership services, the dominant opinion was that they would use such services in the future (72.4%). However, if there are various types of paid memberships, respondents highly valued the idea of selecting and using only a few memberships with good benefits (80.6% agreement rate).

Additionally, there was a strong attitude that if one subscribes to a paid service, they should at least get their money's worth (80.2% agreement rate), and while it is important to check whether the service provides the most benefits, strategic consumption that avoids overspending is even more important (87.1%) was also highly rated.

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