Foreign shopping platforms rated lower than domestic counterparts in Seoul city survey
Published: 07 Nov. 2025, 15:29
Updated: 09 Nov. 2025, 17:21
![Employees sort boxes and parcels at a logistic centre of BEST Express delivery company, after the Singles' Day online shopping festival, in Jinan, Shandong province, China, Nov. 13, 2017. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/11/09/bc83a65b-5725-42e8-8126-ee6c2ce06e57.jpg)
Employees sort boxes and parcels at a logistic centre of BEST Express delivery company, after the Singles' Day online shopping festival, in Jinan, Shandong province, China, Nov. 13, 2017. [YONHAP]
Foreign online shopping platforms received significantly lower consumer satisfaction scores than their Korean counterparts in a recent survey conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Seoul city and the Seoul Electronic Commerce Center released the results of the consumer-level evaluation on Friday.
The assessment covered 10 major online platforms registered for telemarketing sales and serving Korean consumers, and evaluated them in three categories: consumer protection, consumer damage prevention and user satisfaction.
Overall, the survey found a high level of trust in domestic platforms. SSG.com, operated by Shinsegae Group, ranked first with a score of 87.4, followed by Naver’s Smart Store with 86.9. Lotte On, run by Lotte Shopping, ranked third with 86.5, and KakaoTalk Shopping, operated by Kakao, came in fourth with 86.0. Among domestic e-commerce sites, Coupang headed up the rear, at 84.5.
By comparison, foreign shopping platforms received lower evaluations overall, with Temu scoring 78.9 and AliExpress coming in last of all platforms, with 77.5.
The gap between foreign and domestic companies was particularly large in the user satisfaction category. Smart Store received the highest satisfaction score with 28.9, while Temu at 21.9 and AliExpress at 20.5 ranked the lowest.
![Visitors browse booths at SSG.com’s offline food and beauty festival held at S Factory in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/11/09/0b298986-dbe6-4fb4-aace-b01b416957cc.jpg)
Visitors browse booths at SSG.com’s offline food and beauty festival held at S Factory in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [YONHAP]
Customer service and consumer protection were cited by respondents as key reasons for lower scores. Temu listed only an overseas contact number, making it virtually impossible for Korean users to reach its customer service center by phone. AliExpress also lacked a customer hotline during its early entry into the Korean market, limiting user inquiries.
Additionally, AliExpress failed to display its telemarketing business registration number and also omitted key consumer rights, such as purchase withdrawal policies, from its terms of service — both of which are required under Korea’s standard e-commerce regulations, according to Seoul’s findings.
Coupang, along with Temu, 11Street and Auction, was found to include terms that could potentially restrict consumer rights — such as limiting purchase cancellations if products were not returned within a certain period or allowing sellers to receive payment automatically if consumers did not explicitly confirm withdrawal requests.
![A Coupang delivery truck makes deliveries. [COUPANG]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/11/09/ca3ef8c3-2814-4240-9be6-90352098d2d6.jpg)
A Coupang delivery truck makes deliveries. [COUPANG]
A separate survey on the impact of safety inspections of overseas direct-purchase products revealed a clear shift in consumer behavior.
Among respondents with experience purchasing items directly from abroad, 45.3 percent said they had reduced their overseas purchases due to safety concerns, while only 5.4 percent said they had increased them.
“The results confirm that public disclosure of safety inspections for overseas direct-purchase products has a tangible effect on consumer decision-making,” a Seoul city official said, adding that the city plans to continue monitoring e-commerce platforms and expanding product safety testing and information disclosure.
Since 2004, Seoul has operated the Seoul Electronic Commerce Center to prevent and address consumer disputes related to e-commerce. Consumers who experience damages while using domestic or foreign shopping platforms can file complaints through the center’s website.
“Chinese e-commerce platforms such as AliExpress, Temu and Shein have rapidly gained Korean users through aggressive marketing, but still fall short in basic consumer protection measures such as accurate product information and complaint handling,” said Kim Myung-sun, director of Seoul’s Fair Economy Division. “The city will strengthen safety inspections and platform monitoring in cooperation with relevant agencies to create a safer online shopping environment.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON HEE-CHUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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