한국의 명품 모조품 소비: 누가, 무엇을, 왜 소비하는가?

Abstract

The consumption of counterfeit product has begun to gain attention recently as a serious consumer issue because of the drastic increase in its volume, and the changing nature of its distribution. The consumption and distribution of counterfeit products cause harm not only to consumers by causing disputes and dissatisfaction, but also to counterfeited brand manufacturers and to other manufacturers who could have been the choice alternative if counterfeit products were not produced and distributed. At more macro level, the increase in the consumption and distribution of counterfeit products in Korea is becoming a cause of international disputes leading to diplomatic problems and a trade issue. In order to deal with the problem of counterfeit product consumption appropriately, it is important to first understand the actual behavior. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current counterfeit product consumption in Korea. In order to do that this research conducted a consumer survey. To construct the survey questionnaire, literature related to counterfeit consumption were reviewed and in depth interviews were performed with 4consumers of varying ages (20's, 30's, 40's, 50's) to gain understanding of situations in which counterfeit consumptions occur, why consumers purchase counterfeit products and how they feel when they use counterfeit products. The survey consisted of three parts as the table below: For data collection, a self-administered online survey was used and online panel was used. Sample of this research include 1148 consumers aged between 20-59. Results of consumer survey show that 72.2% of the respondents have purchased counterfeit products of some sort showing the ubiquity of consumption of counterfeit products in Korea. This percentage is higher than the percentage of consumers with counterfeit purchase experience in prior research which implies that purchasing of counterfeit products is becoming more prevalent, and thus societal discussion and remedy is needed in order to deal with this phenomenon more effectively. Average price paid for counterfeit products was 96,000 won which suggest that the cheap price is not a reason for seeking counterfeit products. Second finding of the study is that counterfeit product consumption extends within and between consumers. Our result showed that consumers who have purchased counterfeit products have higher intention to purchase counterfeit products. Also, consumers are most likely to gain information about counterfeit products from people around them or other consumers who are knowledgeable about counterfeit products. The respondents showed ambivalent feelings towards the consumption of counterfeit products. For example, when asked how consumers felt about purchasing counterfeit products, the results showed that consumers had positive feelings such as feeling good about brand name product looking imitations at a lower price and it was fun, but at the same time consumers also had negative feelings such as guilt about purchasing illegal products. This kine of ambivalent feelings extended to the use of counterfeit products. Consumers responded that they were not dissatisfied with the purchased counterfeit products, but also responded that they do not really use them. When asked whether or not they had intentions to candidly tell people that they have purchased counterfeit products, the respondent showed high intention. However, the result of their actual behavior showed that the percentage of consumers actually disclosing such information reduces drastically. Most of respondents did not fear the possibility of legal ramification when consuming counterfeit products which obviously is an illegal act, and showed leniency when it comes to dealing with distributors of counterfeit products. This result showed that regulations about counterfeit products are not implemented properly and its enforcement should be more strict and swift. The results of this study suggest that without a change in consumers' attitude towards counterfeit products, regulatory efforts are bound to fail since it would only move the transactions of counterfeit products from one channel to another. More comprehensive social approach combining consumer education and strict regulatory efforts are suggested as a means of dealing with the consumption of counterfeit products.