[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Sajosanup was caught by the Fair Trade Commission for forcibly requiring all employees of the group to purchase and sell holiday gift sets manufactured by affiliated companies every Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays.
The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 22nd that it decided to issue a corrective order and impose a fine of 1.479 billion KRW for the employee sales of Sajogroup's holiday gift sets.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, Sajogroup has separately released gift sets for employee sales every holiday since 2012 and used them as a distribution channel to increase sales. Employee sales were separated as a distinct distribution channel to analyze and manage performance and reflected in the next year's business (management) plan. As a result, out of 13 times from 2012 to 2018, 9 times achieved more than 100% of the target, and the remaining 4 times achieved about 90% or more of the target.
Sajosanup unilaterally assigned target amounts to affiliated companies every holiday and instructed them to report daily performance. It also collected daily performance reports and announced them on the groupware, regularly managing, comparing, and inspecting the performance of each affiliated company. In particular, it pressured target achievement by sending official letters in the name of the chairman mentioning disadvantages for underperforming affiliated companies.
The Fair Trade Commission judged that this series of acts by Sajosanup constituted employee sales prohibited by the Fair Trade Act, as it forced employees of itself or affiliated companies to purchase and sell products of itself or affiliated companies.
Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission held a meeting with related companies on the 17th to prevent employee sales, and decided to closely monitor related trends before and after holidays and operate a reporting center.
A Fair Trade Commission official said, "This action is significant in that it sanctioned Sajosanup for restricting competition in the holiday gift set market by using unfair competition means called employee sales, exploiting its superior employment position," and added, "We will continue to strengthen preventive activities and take strict measures if illegal acts are detected."
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