Many people in the United States may refer to South Korea as the Free Republic of the two Koreas, many even have family members that are serving in the military in South Korea, and many even know that Daewood Cars are a Korean car, but not many know that South Korea is one of the Countries in which e-commerce is most advanced and growing at a very fast pace. It is stated in the CIA Fact book that out a population of 49,044,790 as many as 34.12 million are internet users, meaning that near 92% of all population. That is far more than three fourths of the population has Internet access. A business planning on entering the South Korean market will have to strongly consider creating an online store of that sector, or join one of the many “Online Malls”. It was reported that in 2006 the revenue from internet retailing in Korea was recorded to be over $12.4 billion.

There are many factors that contribute to the success of this trend in South Korea, and some of the include the affordability of broadband access, the quality of products offer online with competitive pricing, the very secured internet navigation environment, extremely low rate of credit card fraud in comparison with the US, it is very simple to buy online, and what it is very important to many people, it is a time saver, in other words, it is convenient over all. One of the most successful examples of this is the Ozmall and you can follow this link to it www.ozmall.or.kr. This is a partnership between Australia and South Korea in which small Australian businesses get help exporting their goods into S. Korea.

The development of the e-commerce began with the plan under the Basic Act on Informatisation Promotion of 1995, implemented in 1996, which began by the distribution of fiber optic lines in over 80 cities during the year 1997. With continuing on developing new technologies in broadband and many Koreans becoming more and more computer Savvy, turning South Korea into the world’s most wired country, and which places the country at the verge of a unique advantage to exploit e-commerce. The country’s e-commerce has been promoted under a national plan known as Broadband IT Korea Vision 2007, whose main goals are deepening the penetration of broadband technology to government and industry and making South Korea more competitive in the worldwide broadband revolution.

Another topic for discussion, maybe in some other occasion, but could not go unnoticed, is the fact that South Korea ranked second in what is known as e-governance systems in the world. The growth of the e-commerce in Korea is also a caused of protections laws and standardization of such form of communication and Business to consumer transactions. In conclusion, the technology development that has sparked the e-commerce revolution is a cause of the government involvement of regulations that control and protect, the plans created in 1995 to develop this form of communication, the acceptance of the Korean families of such form of communications, the affordability and convenience of e-commerce.

Reference

1. Australian Government. Aussie exporters go on-line to crack South Korean market. Retrieved March 8, 2008, fromhttp://www.austrade.gov.au/Aussie-exporters-go-on-line-to-crack-South-Korean-market/default.aspx

2. CIA Fact Book. South Korea. Retrieved February 22, 2008, fromhttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Comm

3. Rhee, K. Y. The Adoption and Use of the Internet in South Korea. JCMC.Indiana.edu. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue4/rhee.html

4. Country Commerce. South Korea: Overview of e-commerce. Global Technology Forum. Retrieved March 23, 2008, fromhttp://globaltechforum.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=rich_story&doc_id=11157&title=South+Korea%3A+Overview+of+e-commerce&channelid=4&categoryid=30

5. Style and Design. Online market draws South Korea shoppers. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved March 21, 2008, from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/02/features/rgmarket03.php#top/

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