Fair Trade Commission detects major violations of Large-Scale Distribution Law by Coupang and Kurly,
A scene from a Coupang promotional video. Captured from Coupang’s Nuri House, ‘ SSG.com (Coupang) and Kurly were caught by the Fair Trade Commission for burdening supply partners with promotion costs without prior written agreement, it was revealed.’,
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, ‘ The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 20th that “Coupang and Kurly carried out promotional events without prior written agreements, burdening 61 and 3 supply partners, respectively, with discount coupons and price discounts.” The Large-Scale Distribution Law stipulates that in order to protect supply partners, written agreements must be made in advance for sales promotion events.’,
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, ‘ Additionally, Coupang unjustly received 6.52 million won from 14 supply partners from 2019 to 2023 under the guise of product information maintenance fees (server management and operation costs). When a large-scale distributor (Coupang) purchases goods from a supply partner, ownership and sales responsibility of the goods are transferred, but Coupang passed on the management costs that it should bear to the supply partners.’,
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, ‘ Kurly also violated the sales promotion fee regulations. Sales promotion fees are a type of incentive that large-scale distributors (Kurly) receive from supply partners when they sell more products than the target. Kurly uses the term “growth encouragement fee.”‘,
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, ‘ Kurly unilaterally notified 1,850 supply partners of the introduction of growth encouragement fees just one month before the commencement date of the contract in 2022 and required them to sign an agreement. The Fair Trade Commission determined that Kurly excessively restricted the supply partners’ autonomy in making choices.’,
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, ‘ The Fair Trade Commission imposed corrective orders, including prevention of recurrence and notification, on Coupang and Kurly. An additional fine of 59 million won was imposed on Coupang, where actual unjust gains occurred. The Fair Trade Commission stated, “We will continue to monitor unfair practices in the distribution market to protect the rights of supply partners and take strict measures when violations occur.” \n’]