SEOUL, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Cosmecca Korea Co., a local cosmetics maker, said Tuesday it has bought a U.S. original design manufacturer (ODM) in a 57.76 billion won (US$53.7 million) deal as it moves to expand its presence in the global market. The Korean company, listed on the country’s secondary bourse KOSDAQ, said it [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Consumer spending has risen in South Korea amid fears over fine dust, a new big data study has revealed. Lotte’s membership brand L.POINT said on Monday that consumer spending in March rose by 3 percent compared to the previous month. L.POINT revealed that sales of products associated with combating fine [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — With the cost of living soaring, essential household spending in South Korea has risen to an 18-year high, spurred in part by a precipitous increase in grocery prices. Data from the Bank of Korea revealed on Wednesday that South Koreans spent nearly 317.2 trillion won on food, non-alcohol drinks, rent, [...]
GOYANG, Apr. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Ikea Group’s CEO Jesper Brodin said Thursday the global furniture giant will move to improve accessibility to its services through expansion of online business and opening of stores in city centers. The company said it plans to launch an e-commerce channel in South Korea by August, nearly four years [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Shoppers with a heightened awareness of harmful chemical substances used in consumer products are driving sales of high-end skincare products that are mostly hypoallergenic and rely on naturally derived ingredients. Beautyshop-and-drugstore chain Olive Young announced Q1 revenue generated from such products was 200 percent higher than in the preceding [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, the South Korean unit of British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, nearly halved over the past two years in the wake of widespread consumer boycotts, industry sources said Wednesday. Local civic groups launched boycotts as the company sold home humidifier sterilizers using [...]
SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — BGF Retail Co., the operator of South Korea’s largest convenience store chain CU, said it signed a franchise deal with a Mongolian company on Tuesday, as the firm moves to accelerate its global drive amid fierce domestic competition. Under the agreement, local retailer Central Express will take charge of [...]
SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — For the first time in South Korea, women’s golf apparel was more popular than men’s last year. Despite there being three times as many male golfers, women’s golf apparel sales were nearly twice as high as men’s in volume, according to data released from Shinsegae Mall on Sunday. Men’s golf [...]
SEOUL, April 16 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean online shopping site operators continued to report losses in 2017 amid fierce market competition, regulatory data showed Monday. Coupang Inc. suffered a combined net loss of 673.5 billion won (US$628.5 million) last year, up 20 percent from 561.8 billion won reported a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its sales jumped 40 percent on-year [...]
SEOUL, April 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s sportswear market is expected to surpass the 2 trillion won (US$1.87 billion) mark in size this year, a report showed Monday. The market size for sports fashion tripled from 500 billion won in 2009 to 1.5 trillion won in 2016, Lotte Shopping Co. said, citing a report [...]