The scale of 'reverse direct purchasing' by overseas consumers is only about 20% of the direct purchases made by domestic consumers. The Bank of Korea advised that measures are needed to expand the scale of reverse direct purchasing, such as simplifying membership registration for domestic online shopping malls and adopting overseas payment services.
On the 26th, the Bank of Korea published a BOK issue note report titled 'Measures to activate the direct online purchasing (reverse direct purchasing) of foreign consumers in Korea.' The report was prepared with participation from Kim Cheol, head of the payment policy department, Kim Won-ik, vice administrator of the payment research team, Chu Seung-woo, vice administrator of the electronic finance team, and Lee Sang-ah, director of the payment research team.
According to the research team, the scale of reverse direct purchasing by overseas consumers for domestic products was recorded at 1.6 trillion won last year. Although this represents a significant increase of 13.3% compared to the previous year, it amounts to only one-fifth of the 8.1 trillion won direct purchasing scale.
The research team identified issues with domestic e-commerce platforms as the background for the poor performance of reverse direct purchasing. Most domestic e-commerce platforms require verification through a domestically issued mobile phone during the membership registration process, even though it is not legally required. Furthermore, the payment process does not allow convenient payment services such as PayPal or Alipay, making it difficult for foreigners to use.
The research team suggested that to encourage foreigners to use Korea's online shopping malls and other e-commerce platforms more, it is necessary to lower the membership registration threshold to match that of major overseas platforms. In overseas e-commerce, registering is allowed as long as the applicant's email or phone number is verified.
They also asserted that the convenience of payment for reverse direct purchasing needs to be improved. It is explained that actively accepting globally issued credit cards or overseas payment services as payment methods is essential. The authors further emphasized the need to enhance the competitiveness of reverse direct purchasing by expanding integrated logistics services that manage not only overseas shipping but also exchange and return services for international customers.
They called for an active role from the government. The research team believes that the government should promote the fact that there are no legal restrictions on membership registration without a domestically issued mobile phone. They also emphasized that through public-private partnerships, conditions should be established so that small e-commerce platforms can utilize global logistics centers at lower expenses.