코로나19로 인한 유통산업 환경변화와 유통규제 전망

Abstract

Even before the unprecedented era of COVID-19, the domestic distribution market had been experiencing rapid growth in the online shopping realm. In addition, the composition of major consumer groups has changed following a demographic shift, and a significant increase in demand for mobile transactions has required a fundamental shift from offline-based sales to e-commerce to encourage the growth of the distribution industry. Distribution and retail businesses have become increasingly reliant on non-face-to-face transactions and online shopping since the COVID-19 outbreak. The sales volumes of online and mobile shopping, open markets, and online channels of large-scale distribution companies are expected to rise as these are only few places where consumption behavior is possible in the context of the pandemic. Unfortunately, however, current regulatory policies and legislative trends for the distribution industry are still closely tied to the existing offline-based discourse and remain in a state of revolution. Recognizing these problems, this study aims to first, identify market patterns of the domestic distribution industry in the pre-pandemic era, second, empirically analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the distribution industry, third, forecast the future direction of change based on the recent changes in sales strategies of distribution companies and consumer purchasing behavior, and fourth offer regulatory directions in light of the rapidly-changing market environment. Altogether, this research makes noteworthy contributions to policy debates concerning various bills put forth by the 21st National Assembly around the 「Distribution Industry Development Act」, as well as to the establishment of a mid-to-long-term regulatory landscape in Korea.