SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Customers who spend big at the country’s major department stores jumped this year, industry data showed Wednesday, despite a prolonged economic slump here. The number of wealthy customers at the four stores — Lotte Department Store, Hyundai Department Store, Shinsegae Department Store, and Galleria Department Store — jumped by [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s industrial standardization bureau said Wednesday it is mulling over an investigation into Apple Inc.’s iPhone handsets, which randomly shut down despite battery remaining. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) said it is looking into the matter as the iPhone 6S battery problem could potentially be [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – A lightweight laptop computer by South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. has received the best evaluation from a U.S. consumer magazine, beating those by foreign rivals, its publication showed Wednesday. Samsung’s Notebook 9 clinched the top spot with 77 points out of 100 in the most recent review by [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – One of the newest trends for Korean retailers is “sleep consulting” – a concept store, or a service, providing everything one needs to know to improving quality of sleep. The Hyundai Department Store in Mokdong, Seoul, was among the first to introduce such an outlet. Dubbed Beyond Sleep, the [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Operating a duty-free store is a highly lucrative venture, and the few five-year licenses granted by the government are usually hotly contested. However, authorities have finally decided to raise the special commission imposed on duty-free store operators, which has been frequently criticized for being unusually low, by up to [...]
DAEJEON, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Wet wipes are a convenient go-to for cleaning, as simple hand wipes, for babies, or for other housework. But at the same time, they’re the subject of environmental and health concerns, with a large majority of the products using non-biodegradable materials and toxic chemicals. According to the Korea Intellectual [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Food and liquor products have been among the best-selling items at South Korean discount stores in 2016 as major chains have released a variety of home replacement meals and ready-to-eat products, industry data showed Friday. E-Mart, the nation’s largest chain operated by Shinsegae, said liquor was the most popular [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Online shopping in South Korea reached a fresh record high in October on a nationwide discount event, a government report showed Friday. Total online transactions reached a record 5.6 trillion won (US$4.8 billion) in October, up 17.3 percent from 4.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the report [...]
SEJONG, Nov. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The government set out a series of countermeasures Tuesday against increasing concerns over goods containing chemical substances, which included an investigation of all everyday use chemical products. “We have had growing public unease with everyday use products that contain chemicals, from incidents like the toxic humidifier sterilizer case,” said [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will slap fines on manufacturers and retailers of cosmetics developed through tests on animals under a new regulation set to take effect in February, joining the global wave of bans on animal testing, the government said Monday. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) said it [...]