A street in central Seoul is nearly empty on July 11, 2021, a day before South Korea plans to adopt the toughest social distancing measures of Level 4 in the capital area. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Delivery apps and restaurant search platforms are stepping up to revise reviews and star rating systems, in response to numerous restaurants struggling with malicious reviews and absurdly low star ratings.
Last week, major food delivery platform Coupang Eats introduced a new feature that allows restaurants to reply to customer reviews and star ratings.
Previously, restaurants could not reply to customer reviews and ratings.
South Korea’s top food delivery app Baedal Minjok signed an agreement with the Korea Franchise Union in February, allowing restaurants to request a 30-day temporary suspension of certain review posts as they engage with the customer who wrote the review.
WeMakePrice O, another delivery app, introduced a new feature that allows restaurants to report malicious reviews.
Yogiyo selects the best reviews to offer discount coupons worth 100,000 won (US$86.92) starting this month.
Some delivery platforms are getting rid of star ratings altogether.
Search giant Naver Corp. vowed on July 8 that it will take down every star rating system offered on its Naver Place service by early next year and replace them with a ‘keyword reviews’ system that allows customers to choose from certain keywords, and display the most chosen keywords at the top of the screen.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
