Kakao (035720.KS), the Korean internet platform giant, received a presidential citation for its contributions to mutual cooperation in the mobile gift certificate market and the digital transformation of small businesses.
Kakao said it received the award at the 25th Fair Trade Day ceremony held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul, the previous day. Fair Trade Day is an annual event established by private economic organizations — including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, the Korea Federation of SMEs, and the Korea Fair Competition Federation — to commemorate April 1, the enforcement date of the Fair Trade Act.
Kakao was highly recognized for voluntarily participating in a public-private consultative body on mobile gift certificates and contributing to the development of a market cooperation model that includes fee reductions and shorter settlement cycles. In particular, the company was credited with preemptively introducing a fee cap of 8% despite having no legal obligation to do so, and proposing a mutual benefit plan that directly passes fee reduction benefits to franchise store owners, effectively easing the burden on small-scale merchants.
Kakao also actively participated in revising standard terms and conditions to raise the refund ratio for expired mobile gift certificates from the previous 90% to 95% for cash refunds and 100% for credit refunds, enhancing consumer benefits.
The company's ongoing efforts to provide practical support to small business owners through technology and its platform were also cited as a key achievement. Through its "Kakao Class" and "Project Dangol" programs, Kakao has been driving sustainable digital transformation by helping small business owners and traditional market merchants communicate with customers via KakaoTalk channels and develop online sales channels.
"I believe this award meaningfully recognizes the fair trade practices and mutual cooperation efforts Kakao has been pursuing, including easing the mobile gift certificate fee burden, strengthening user protections, and supporting the digital transformation of small businesses," Kakao CEO Jeong Shin-a said. "Going forward, we will continue to strengthen preventive compliance management based on our Compliance Program (CP) and work to embed voluntary compliance as an ingrained corporate culture across the organization."
Kakao has maintained substantive compliance management since introducing its CP in August 2024. The company continues multifaceted efforts to ensure fair trade voluntary compliance takes root as an organizational culture, including △establishing a prior business consultation system, △enacting and revising internal regulations including CP rules and subordinate guidelines, △conducting compliance training and campaigns, and △distributing voluntary compliance handbooks.