83% of Consumers Say "Choice of Professional Service Platforms Must Be Guaranteed"

Korea Startup Forum Announces Joint Public Opinion Survey Results

More than 80% of consumers believe that the right to choose professional service platforms such as the legal service platform Lotok and the medical advertising platform Gangnam Unni should be guaranteed.

On the 20th, Korea Startup Forum (Chairman Park Jae-wook, hereinafter referred to as Kospo) announced the results of the "Professional Service Platform Startup Awareness Survey" conducted by Korea Research at the request of Startup Alliance and the National Assembly Startup Research Group "Unicorn Farm."

The survey aimed to understand the perception of conflicts between professional business associations and platform startups, which arose as an issue with Lotok. The survey included representative cases of professional service platform startups such as the legal service platform Lotok, medical advertising platform Gangnam Unni, tax agency platform Samjjeomsam, and telemedicine platform Doctor Now.

One in four respondents (25.7%) reported being well aware of professional service platforms. Among those aged 18 to 29, 41.1% answered that they were well aware. Those who had actually used the services or accessed the platforms through website visits were 22.8% and 28.6%, respectively. 64.6% of respondents recognized that platforms help in using professional services. In particular, 85.3% of those who had experience using platform services responded that they were helpful.

Which of the following opinions do you agree with regarding the conflict between professional field platform services and professional associations?

Although few people were well aware of the conflict between platform startups and professional business associations (14.4%), when presented with the claims of each professional association and the platform startups and asked a final question, 83.6% of respondents answered that "consumer choice should be guaranteed over the protection of professional occupational rights." Even among those who have professionals such as lawyers, doctors, or tax accountants in their family, 67.1% emphasized the importance of consumer choice.

In the case of legal and tax service platforms, negative opinions toward the claims of professional associations were relatively high. Regarding the lawyers' association's position that "platform services should be banned to protect the public interest of lawyers," 61.4% disagreed. Similarly, 56.6% disagreed with the tax accountants' association's claim that "providing tax services such as refunds by non-tax accountants infringes on the professional occupation."

For medical advertising and telemedicine service platforms, opinions on the claims of professional associations were mixed. Regarding the doctors' association's claim that "medical advertising platforms should be banned due to concerns about inaccurate advertisements," disagreement (48.0%) was slightly higher than agreement (43.2%). This appears to reflect social awareness that convenience and safety should be considered together in the medical service field.

The overall results of this awareness survey, conducted by Korea Research with 1,000 participants, will be disclosed at the related discussion forum titled "Is Win-Win with Startups Impossible?" to be held on the 21st. The forum is co-hosted by Korea Startup Forum, National Assembly Unicorn Farm, and Startup Alliance and will take place at the National Assembly Members' Office Building.