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Koreans satisfied with early morning delivery but not marriage services, consumer survey says

Published: 10 Jun. 2025, 12:22

Coupang's Rocket Fresh early morning delivery service [COUPANG]

Korea’s early morning delivery market received the highest consumer satisfaction rating among 40 sectors, while the marriage services industry scored the lowest, according to a report released Monday.

The Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) published the “2024 Consumer Market Evaluation Index” (translated) and ranked sectors based on consumer satisfaction — measured through perceived trust, choice availability, price fairness and levels of dissatisfaction or harm.

The agency surveyed 40,000 consumers — 1,000 per sector — and found that the average consumer satisfaction score across all markets was 65.7 out of 100.

Among individual sectors, early morning delivery earned the top score of 71.8, followed by health supplements at 70.3, household chemical products at 70.2, general hospital treatment at 69.7 and air travel services at 69.7.

The early morning delivery market ranked highest in both trust and price fairness.

Marriage services received the lowest score with 50.4 points. Other low-scoring sectors included school uniforms with 54.8, home repairs and interior design with 59.4, veterinary services with 61.9 and postpartum care with 62.5.

The marriage services industry received the lowest scores across all four evaluation categories. In particular, it ranked last in price fairness. A total of 85.4 percent of respondents — 854 people — said price information was difficult to find. Unexpected additional costs were experienced by 83.2 percent, or 832 people, while 78.1 percent, or 781 respondents, said they had been pressured to pay in cash.

Wedding dresses are on display at a bridal expo in Daegu on Feb. 11. [YONHAP]

Veterinary services also ranked poorly in price fairness, with actual payments averaging 191,807 won ($141) — approximately 86.8 percent higher than the expected cost of 102,660 won.

In the school uniform sector, choice availability was the lowest among all markets. The actual price of uniforms, at 248,814 won, exceeded the expected price of 182,457 won by 36.4 percent. Nearly half of the respondents — 44.6 percent — cited monopolies and oligopolies as the cause of price inflation.

Consumers in the home repair and interior design market cited vague pricing and difficulty comparing products and services as key issues.

Postpartum care services also struggled with limited choice and a lack of pricing transparency.

The KCA said it would make the full survey results available on its website and share the findings with relevant government agencies to inform future policy improvements. It also plans to conduct in-depth research into the marriage services industry, which received the lowest score, to identify improvement measures.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]