Last year, it was found that department stores, large supermarkets, and TV home shopping companies raised the commission rates they receive from suppliers. Among large supermarkets, E-Mart had the highest real commission rate, AK Department Store had the highest among department stores, and GS Home Shopping topped the home shopping category. Coupang had the highest real commission rate among online shopping malls.
According to the 'Survey on Commission Rates of Large Retailers' released by the Fair Trade Commission on the 11th, the real commission rates by retail type were 27.3% for TV home shopping, 19.2% for department stores, 18.0% for large supermarkets, 12.8% for outlet and complex shopping malls, and 11.8% for online shopping malls. The real commission rate is calculated by dividing the total amount of commissions received from suppliers by large-scale retailers, along with additional expenses (such as promotional and logistics costs), by the total sales of goods.
Until 2022, the trend of declining real commission rates was clear in most retail types, but last year, commission rates either increased or the rate of decline slowed in most types.
In the case of TV home shopping, the real commission rate was 29.1% in 2019, rising slightly to 29.2% in 2020 and 2021. It fell to 27% in 2022, but rose slightly to 27.4% in 2023.
For department stores, the rate fell from 21.1% in 2019 to 19.7%, 19.3%, and 19.1% by 2022, but rose to 19.2% in 2023. Large supermarkets also experienced a decline from 19.4% in 2019 to 18.8%, 18.6%, and 17.7% by 2022, but rose to 18.0% last year.
Within the department store category, AK Plaza had the highest real commission rate at 20.4%, followed by Lotte Department Store at 19.6% and Shinsegae Department Store at 19.4%. For large supermarkets, E-Mart had the highest rate at 19.2%, followed by Homeplus (17.9%), Hanaro Mart (17.5%), and Lotte Mart (16.6%). The gap between the real commission rates of E-Mart and Lotte Mart was as much as 2.6 percentage points.
Coupang had the highest real commission rate among online shopping malls at 29.8%. GS SHOP was second with 11.2%, and Kakao (gift giving) was third with 10.0%. However, it was noted by a Fair Trade Commission official that for Coupang, “The service includes storing and delivering suppliers' products and handling customer service, which differs from the special purchase conditions of other e-commerce companies.” It was also reported that the proportion of special purchase transactions by Coupang accounted for only 3.9% of all transactions.
It was found that suppliers, in addition to commissions, are also bearing additional expenses such as promotion costs, logistics delivery fees, server usage fees, and other costs. The additional expense ratio for suppliers by retail type was 7.8% for convenience stores, 4.2% for large supermarkets, 4.0% for online shopping malls, 1.0% for TV home shopping, and 0.3% for department stores.
Compared to the previous year, the additional expense ratio for suppliers decreased in online shopping malls (-0.8 percentage points) and outlet/complex malls (-0.1 percentage points). On the other hand, the ratio increased for TV home shopping (0.2 percentage points), large supermarkets (0.5 percentage points), and convenience stores (0.6 percentage points).
The Fair Trade Commission stated that it will focus on monitoring whether there are any unfair practices in the process of collecting various expenses by retail companies, and will also monitor the increase in burden on suppliers, including commissions and additional expenses.