Regulating the Korean Government Way: Consumer vs. Small Retailers

The Korean government, increasingly, is looking for ways to project small enterprises, often, with disregard for consumers. A recent regulation on book sales is a key example.

A new regulation allows booksellers to, only discount from the cover price by up to15% with 5% of the discount via a bookstore membership scheme. The new regulation does not distinquish between recently released books and older books.

The law has led to some stores to discount books by as much as 90% and for customers to drastically increase the number of books purchased before the enactment of the law late next week.

The purpose of the law, facially, is to protect small stores from online discount vendors and mega bookstores. Many consumers are up in arms.

What do you think?

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