Naver Announces Naver Pay Merchant Benefits for Paid Membership Users

"Measures for User Welfare Cannot Be Seen as a Monopoly Issue"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Naver has stated that the controversy over the abuse of market dominance related to its newly launched paid membership service, 'Naver Plus Membership,' is "merely a way to inform service subscribers of the benefits."

According to the information technology (IT) industry on the 27th, starting next month, the Naver Plus Membership label will be additionally attached to the Naver Pay general merchant icons in Naver search advertisements.

Naver plans to offer the Naver Plus Membership service from the 1st of next month. This service provides Naver users who pay a certain fee with additional Naver Pay points and various digital content usage benefits. Subscribers can earn up to 5% of their Naver Pay payment amount as points when shopping, booking, or using webtoons on Naver.

However, some have raised concerns that attaching the Naver Plus Membership label only to Naver Pay general merchants appearing in Naver search ads might indicate that Naver is leveraging its dominance in the domestic portal search market for marketing its other services.

In response, Naver explained, "The Naver Plus Membership subscribers receive additional Naver Pay points when purchasing items with Naver Pay at general merchants. Ultimately, since paid members need to know which merchants accept Naver Pay to utilize the service and receive extra points, the label simply indicates where the merchants are." They added, "There was absolutely no intention to force businesses to use Naver Pay."

They further stated, "Notifying paid members of additional benefits is a method similarly used by other e-commerce companies operating domestically."

An industry insider commented, "Simply having a high market share does not warrant accusations of monopolistic practices. Only when a dominant position is abused to harm service users' welfare can it be considered a monopoly issue. This measure is solely for the welfare of service subscribers and cannot be viewed as a monopolistic problem."