“Jaguar Land Rover Korea and its official dealers have not made official contact or held negotiations regarding the online sale of Jaguar XE models via Ticket Monster,” said the company in a press release on Tuesday.
SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Ticket Monster (T-Mon), Korea’s leading social commerce platform, posted 20 Jaguar XE Portfolio and R-Sport models on its website Monday, marking the first time that a Korean e-commerce site sold vehicles online.
The two models were offered with stunning 7-million-won ($6,400) discounts, and were priced at 48.1 million won for the Jaguar XE Portfolio (55.1 million won MSRP) and 47 million won for the Jaguar XE R-Sports (54 million won MSRP), and quickly sold out in just three hours.
It was an iconic moment for Korea’s e-commerce industry.
However, the events that followed were unprecedented for T-Mon.
Less than 24 hours after the successful sale of the luxury sedans, Jaguar Land Rover Korea issued an official statement claiming that the company and its nine official dealerships in Korea had never agreed to supply the 20 vehicles sold by the social commerce site on Monday.
“Jaguar Land Rover Korea and its official dealers have not made official contact or held negotiations regarding the online sale of Jaguar XE models via Ticket Monster,” said the company in a press release on Tuesday. The company went on to say: “We currently sell our vehicles through official dealers only, and after contacting our nine dealer companies, we can confirm that the sales of the concerned vehicles and the prices listed on Ticket Monster were never discussed with us or our dealers.”
The company also said in its statement that it is evaluating legal measures against the online shopping mall.
Contrary to Jaguar’s claims, the 20 sedans were indeed sold through Korea’s one of most popular e-commerce platform, with millions of won approved in confirmed transactions. T-Mon, in response to Jaguar’s statement, is also making its own claims.
According to the social commerce company, the big discounts brought about both disapproval from other dealerships and unexpected damage to Jaguar’s luxury image, and businesses that took part in the endeavor with T-Mon are denying their involvement.
On August 2, T-Mon finalized a contract with SK Encar, a used car seller, which promised to supply 20 Jaguar XEs that it obtained from Aju Networks, one of the official dealers of Jaguar Land Rover Korea. In T-Mon’s words, all three parties – SK Encar, Aju Networks and Jaguar Land Rover Korea – were aware that the vehicles would be sold on its online shopping site.
“Prior to signing the sales contract, SK Encar said that it discussed the matter with both Aju Networks and the marketing manager at Jaguar Land Rover Korea headquarters,” said a T-Mon official. He added that “it is impossible not to discuss the vehicles’ pricing with the dealer in a promotional event like this,” with regards to Jaguar’s claims that the discounted prices during Monday’s sale “were never discussed” with the company or its dealers.
Industry watchers point to several possibilities if T-Mon’s claims prove to be true. Either SK Encar, Aju Networks and Jaguar Land Rover Korea are all keeping silent on the matter despite their knowledge of the terms of the deal, or they’re simply lying when they say that they weren’t aware that the cars were to be sold on T-Mon. It is also possible that the specifics of the deal were never fully reported to the higher-ups of the three companies.
Regardless, T-Mon is holding its ground.
“We concluded a contract through just means, and after careful legal evaluation,” said the company in an official statement on Wednesday. “Despite the sale of these products through honest and conventional means, consumer trust in our company has been damaged. We will supply our customers with the vehicles they purchased, and make sure they’re not harmed in any way.”
Jaguar also released a statement later Wednesday afternoon that although it has no official involvement in the contract with T-Mon, it will be supplying the vehicles sold online to avoid unwanted consumer damages.
By Joseph Shin (jss539@koreabizwire.com)
