Evaluation of 100 Internet Shopping Malls in 12 Categories: 'Costco' Ranks 1st

Evaluation of Consumer Protection, Satisfaction, and Damage Incidents for 100 Shopping Malls Across 12 Sectors Last Year
This Year, Live Commerce, OTT, Delivery Apps, and Music Streaming Added to Reflect Consumer Trends

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Among 12 categories of internet shopping malls frequently used by consumers, including comprehensive shopping malls and open markets, the ‘Food Mall’ category received the highest consumer satisfaction score, and among individual shopping malls, the comprehensive shopping mall ‘Costco Korea Online Mall’ was found to be the best.

On the 15th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the evaluation results of consumer protection, consumer usage satisfaction, and consumer damage occurrence for a total of 100 shopping malls across 12 categories: ▲Comprehensive Shopping Malls ▲Open Markets ▲Live Commerce ▲Clothing Malls ▲Home Appliance Malls ▲Cosmetics Malls ▲Food Malls ▲Online Video Services (OTT) ▲Delivery Apps ▲Music Streaming ▲Online Travel Agencies ▲Ticket Reservations. The evaluation criteria consisted of three categories: consumer protection (50 points), consumer usage satisfaction (40 points), and consumer damage occurrence (10 points). Scores were assigned for each category and then summed to determine the final ranking.

By industry, the ‘Food Mall’ category scored the highest with an average of 84.44 points, followed by ‘Clothing Malls’ (average 82.83 points) and ‘Comprehensive Malls’ (average 82.24 points). On the other hand, ‘OTA (Online Travel Agencies)’ scored the lowest with an average of 77.44 points, indicating a need for continuous management. The high scores for ‘Food Malls’ following 2020 are attributed to increased convenience for consumers in response to the rise of single-person households and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted online demand for meal kits and similar products.

The top companies in each of the 12 categories were ▲Comprehensive Mall: Costco Online Mall (86.58 points) ▲Open Market: Coupang (84.14 points) ▲Live Commerce: Naver Shopping Live (85.04 points) ▲Clothing Mall: Boribori (86.28 points) ▲Home Appliance Mall: Cuchen (84.39 points) ▲Cosmetics Mall: Amorepacific Mall (83.76 points) ▲Food Mall: Shop Pulmuone (85.66 points) ▲OTT: Netflix (83.36 points) ▲Delivery App: Coupang Eats (81.62 points) ▲Music Streaming: Melon (84.48 points) ▲OTA (Travel/Accommodation): Yanolja (82.23 points) ▲Ticket Reservation: Yes24 Ticket (81.13 points).

Looking at the evaluation categories, in the consumer protection evaluation (50 points), which assesses compliance with e-commerce laws such as restrictions on withdrawal of subscription and display of business information, ‘Clothing Malls’ scored an excellent average of 46.88 points, while ‘OTA (Travel/Accommodation)’ received the lowest score of 41.50 points, indicating a need for improvement.

In consumer usage satisfaction (40 points), the ‘Food Mall’ category, which has a well-established same-day reservation and delivery system, received the highest score of 28.16 points. In contrast, the newly included ‘Delivery Apps’ (24.83 points) scored low in dispute intervention and resolution between consumers and restaurants, and ‘Music Streaming’ (24.78 points) scored low in information provision, indicating areas needing improvement.

In the consumer damage occurrence category (10 points), which evaluates the level and duration of consumer complaint handling, 92 out of 100 evaluated malls received a perfect score of 10 points, indicating appropriate responses. However, some experienced delays or inadequate responses due to difficulties in connecting to customer centers caused by staff COVID-19 infections.

Lee Byung-wook, Director of Fair Economy, stated, “Starting this year, we have increased accuracy by adding evaluations for five categories with recent user growth, reflecting changes in consumer trends due to COVID-19. We will continue to manage and evaluate shopping malls to ensure fair competition among companies and enable consumers to make purchases based on accurate information.”