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Wed, March 22, 2023 | 14:48
Economy
IKEA under probe for overcharging consumers here
공정위,'고가 논란' 이케아 가격 실태조사…내년 2월 발표
Posted : 2014-11-24 17:01
Updated : 2014-11-24 18:09
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By Choi Kyong-ae

The antitrust regulator said Monday that it will inspect IKEA Korea to check whether it will be charging consumers more here than it does in other countries.

It plans to provide IKEA Korea's product pricing information to Korean customers early next year to conduct a joint survey with a consumer rights group.

The move comes after the Swedish furniture retailer recently faced consumer complaints in Korea about product prices that are higher than those in other countries.

"We are planning to commission a consumer group to compare IKEA's product prices by country and by sales routes (such as department stores and outlets). After the survey, all the pricing information will be made public as early as February," Jang Duck-jin, head of the Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) consumer policy bureau, told reporters in a lunch meeting held in the administrative center of Sejong City.

The aim of the survey is to provide the right information on the furniture products to be sold by the world's biggest furniture company. The survey outcome does not carry any legally binding force, he said.

To help consumers make a good decision and pressure companies to adjust their prices to reasonable levels, the FTC has provided the pricing details and comparisons of products which are presumed to be priced high in Korea.

Ahead of the opening of its first store next month, IKEA unveiled the prices of about 8,600 products to be available here. In mid November, Korean consumers took issue with IKEA's pricing policies in Korea when they found that some of its products were priced higher or even as much as double the prices elsewhere.

IKEA Korea Sales Manager Andrew Johnson told reporters last week that all the Korean prices were set after the company took logistics costs, exchange rates, customs and value-added taxes into account.

IKEA plans to open its first Korean store in Gwangmyeong, a suburb of Seoul, on Dec. 18 and four more outlets by 2020. The world's biggest store boasts of total floor space of 59,000 square meters, larger than the current biggest megastores in Sweden and China.

Days after controversy over its pricing, IKEA faced harsh criticisms in Korea as its web site uses the mobile version of Google's map services to give information of store locations. The map refers to the waters to the east of the Korean peninsula as the Sea of Japan. Koreans refer to the waters as the East Sea.


공정위,'고가 논란' 이케아 가격 실태조사…내년 2월 발표

다음 달 한국에 첫 매장을 여는 '가구 공룡' 이케아 제품이 '고가(高價) 논란'에 휩싸인 가운데 공정거래위원회가 제품 가격 실태조사에 나서겠다고 밝혔다.  

장덕진 공정위 소비자정책국장은 24일 기자들과 만나 '이케아가 최근 국내에서만 고가 정책을 쓴다고 해 소비자 단체를 통해 이케아의 국내·외 가구 판매가격을 비교·점검해 내년 2월께 발표할 것'이라고 말했다.

장 국장은 '이케아를 비롯해 국내 가구업체도 대형마트와 백화점, 가구 전문점, 온라인 등 유통채널별로 가격이 어떻게 다른지 비교해 소비자에게 제공하겠다'고 덧붙였다.  

공정위 측은 이번에 착수하는 가격 조사는 소비자에게 정보를 제공하는 차원에서 이뤄지는 것이며, 공정거래법 등에 따라 현장조사를 시행하고 위반 내용을 적시해 처벌하는 조사와는 다르다고 부연했다.

현재로서는 공정위가 이케아의 고가 정책을 처벌할 법적 근거가 없지만, 실태 조사 결과 공개를 통해 소비자들의 현명한 소비 행태와 가격 인하 효과를 유도하거나 이케아의 선제적 가격 조정을 이끌어 낼 가능성이 있다는 분석이다.

다음 달 18일 한국 내 첫 매장인 광명점을 개점하는 이케아는 한국에서 일부 제품의 가격을 다른 나라보다 최대 1.6배까지 비싸게 매겼다는 논란에 휩싸인 상태다.  

그러나 지난 19일 이케아 측은 '가격은 국가별로 책정되며 가정 방문과 시장 분석, 환율, 관세 등을 검토한다'며 '현재의 가격을 인하하거나 바꾸지는 않을 것'이라고 밝힌 바 있다.  

한편, 장 국장은 이날 수수료 관련 논란이 불거지는 배달앱 시장에 대해서도 소비자단체를 통한 실태조사를 시행한 뒤 내년 3월께 결과를 발표하겠다고 설명했다. (연합뉴스)
Emailcka@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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