Over 90% of Small Business Owners "Feel the Impact of Kiosk Adoption, but Government Support Utilization is Insufficient"

Only 8.7% of Companies Utilize Government Support

More than 90% of small business owners judged that the introduction of kiosks helped their management, but they answered that they did not utilize government support when adopting them.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 25th the results of the '2024 Small Business Kiosk Utilization Status and Policy Discovery Survey' conducted on 402 companies using kiosks such as restaurants, cafes, and PC rooms. This survey was conducted to identify difficulties related to kiosks, which are spreading as a new offline store payment method among small business owners, and to seek policy alternatives that enable small business owners to effectively respond to the government's digital transformation demands.

First, the reasons for introducing kiosks (multiple responses) were ▲to reduce labor costs (76.4%) ▲for customer convenience (63.2%) ▲franchise headquarters' instructions (27.1%) ▲difficulty in hiring employees (16.8%) ▲government support policies (4.0%) in that order. 93.8% of the responding companies answered that 'introducing kiosks helps management,' citing reasons such as ▲labor cost reduction (78.0%) ▲reduction of work burden (11.1%).

Among the 294 companies that answered 'labor costs are reduced,' they reported an average reduction of 1.2 employees and about 1.38 million KRW in monthly labor costs due to kiosk introduction. Regarding the burden of kiosk installation and operating costs, 61.4% answered that it was burdensome, while only 9.7% said it was not. Among 108 franchise stores that installed kiosks under headquarters' instructions, 96.3% of the stores bore the installation costs without cost-sharing from the headquarters. In response to questions about kiosk-related expenses, the average purchase cost was about 3.56 million KRW per unit for stand-type devices and about 1.33 million KRW per unit for table-type devices. For rentals, the average monthly rental cost was about 100,000 KRW for stand-type and about 190,000 KRW for table-type. Regarding the types of kiosks used, 79.9% of companies used stand-type kiosks, and 20.6% used table-type kiosks.

Also, 29.6% (119 companies) of respondents experienced difficulties related to kiosk operation, with major issues including ▲technical problems such as order errors (46.2%) ▲inability to contact customer service during late-night hours (37.8%) ▲difficulties in utilization due to lack of digital skills (31.9%) ▲customer complaints about non-face-to-face ordering methods (30.3%).

91.3% of the responding companies answered that they did not utilize government support when introducing kiosks. The reasons were ▲unawareness of government support existence (66.2%) ▲not meeting eligibility requirements (16.1%) ▲complicated application procedures (10.1%). Regarding necessary government support related to kiosks, they responded in order of ▲kiosk utilization education for small business owners (34.6%) ▲guidance on kiosk usage methods for customers (26.6%) ▲support for kiosk maintenance and expansion of A/S service channels (24.4%) ▲regulation of kiosk fees (14.4%).

Meanwhile, regarding the mandatory installation of barrier-free kiosks scheduled to be enforced from January 28 next year, 85.6% of companies were unaware of the amendment. This is because under the 'Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities and Remedies,' businesses with fewer than 100 regular employees are required to install 'barrier-free kiosks' that are convenient for persons with disabilities and the elderly when installing and operating kiosks.

The survey results showed that necessary policies for mandatory barrier-free kiosk installation included ▲exemption for small businesses (49.8%) ▲expansion of subsidies for barrier-free device installation (35.6%). When asked whether they plan to install barrier-free kiosks if they do not receive government subsidies, 78.4% of companies answered 'no,' indicating that expanding support for barrier-free kiosk installation is necessary for the effectiveness of the amendment.

Joo Moon-gap, head of the Economic Policy Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “Through this survey, it was found that kiosks help improve the management environment by alleviating labor cost burdens for small business owners, but there are still many challenges to solve, such as technical issues and cost burdens,” adding, “We urge the government to play an active role in the digital transformation of small business owners, including the mandatory installation of barrier-free kiosks, and hope that kiosk funding support expansion and active policy promotion will be carried out to strengthen the competitiveness of small business owners.”