[앵커]
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, more and more people are using online platforms rather than going to the grocery store, and recently, prices have risen, so local marts are taking a big hit.
Recently, when card companies have raised card fees at local marts, business owners are protesting by taking collective action.
Reporter Hwang Bo Hye-kyung reports.
[기자]
Park Young-ha, who runs a local mart in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, sighs every time she sees the sales table.
In January, sales decreased by 30% from the previous year to 350 million won, making a 20 million won loss.
Sales are declining due to the advent of online platforms amid the COVID-19 crisis, but prices and labor costs are continuing to rise.
[박영하 / 서울 은평구 마트 운영 : 코로나19로 소비자들이 온라인으로 주문을 많이 하거든요. 오프라인 매장은 갈수록 매출이 하락하고 있는 실정입니다.]
In recent years, the burden of card fees has grown even bigger.
From this month, nine credit card companies have increased their local mart card commission rates one following another.
[박영하 / 서울 은평구 마트 운영 : 카드사에서 0.3% 수수료를 인상했는데 한 달에 84만 원, 1년이면 천만 원 가까이 늘게 되거든요. 올해 안에 폐업할 위기가 닥쳐오고 있습니다.]
At the end of January, card companies consulted with related organizations to lower the preferential fee rate for small merchants with annual sales of less than 3 billion won, but it was found that general merchants with annual sales of 3 billion won or more raised card fees.
The Korea Mart Association criticizes the credit card companies for using the trick of raising the fees for general merchants instead of reducing the fees for small merchants.
Most of the general merchants are local marts, so the credit card company unilaterally notified the fee increase.
[홍춘호 / 한국마트협회 정책이사 : 카드사가 대형 마트나 대기업과는 협상해 수수료율을 정하지만, 일반가맹점은 협상력이 없어서 일방적으로 인상 통보를 받고 있습니다. 납득할 만한 인상요인을 제시하면 모르겠지만, 여태껏 근거를 제시한 적이 없습니다.]
Mart business owners decided to push for affiliate cancellation for Shinhan Card, which had the largest fee increase, and demanded that the basis for calculating the fee rate be disclosed.
Regarding this, a Shinhan Card official said, “90% of all marts are small and medium-sized merchants, so preferential fee rates of 1.5% or less are applied, and we plan to negotiate smoothly with general merchants that do not belong to this category.”
The Financial Services Commission, in charge of the card fee calculation system, also announced that it would increase the number of participating organizations in the future when it was pointed out that the voices of general merchants were excluded from the system improvement process.
This is YTN Hwang Bo Hye-kyung.
YTN Hwang Bo Hye-kyung (bohk1013@ytn.co.kr)
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