SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Duty-free sales in South Korea sank nearly 15 percent to a six-month low in July due to decreased spending by foreigners, industry data showed Friday. Combined sales at duty-free shops in Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood at 1.25 trillion won (US$920 million)) in July, down 14.6 percent from a month [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.7 percent on-year in July amid eased COVID-19 curbs and the growth in people’s outdoor activities, the industry ministry said Tuesday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers came to 14.17 trillion won (US$10.48 billion) last month, compared with 12.9 [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major retailers are opening a string of unique pop-up stores as part of efforts to attract more customers. Galleria Department Store is striving to emphasize its “premium” image, opened a Hermes pop-up store for male customers in earlier this month. In September last year, Gucci and Valencia [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — BGF Retail Co., the operator of CU convenience stores, said Thursday it had formed a business agreement with MOBINN, an in-house startup of Hyundai Motor Co., to launch a robot delivery pilot service. After establishing a last-mile business consultative body, the two companies are expected to launch the convenience [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean e-grocery startup Market Kurly has partnered with RedMart, a Singaporean online grocery giant, to sell Korean food online in the Southeast Asian city-state, its operator said Thursday. Under a partnership agreement formally signed Wednesday, the South Korean company began selling 44 ready-to-eat frozen food products in Singapore [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — GS Retail Co. said Thursday it will close all of its lalavla shops, 17 years after it entered the health and beauty (H&B) store market, due to slumping sales amid the coronavirus pandemic and fierce competition. GS Retail will stop operating its lalavla online shops in September and close [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Starbucks Coffee Korea said Thursday it will launch an official recall of its giveaway picnic bags, after the company came under fire for handing out the merchandise containing a toxic chemical substance. The announcement came after the company apologized over the discovery of formaldehyde in its “summery carry bag” [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s convenience store chains have launched sales of gift sets for the upcoming Chuseok holiday from Sept. 9-12. Among such gift sets, a variety of rare and extraordinary items are drawing interest from customers. GS25 is rolling out luxury liquor gift sets, including DRC Romanee-Conti 2017 valued at [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The heavy downpours that have pummeled Seoul and central regions of South Korea also hit the retail industry, causing closures of department stores and delayed deliveries of goods to consumers. Parts of Seoul and the surrounding Incheon and Gyeonggi Province received heavy rains of over 100 millimeters per hour [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — GS Retail, the operator of GS25 convenience stores, said Wednesday exports of its craft beer products surged over 18 times between 2019 and the first half of 2022 amid a global craft beer boom. GS said its total exports of craft beer reached US$560,000 in the first six months [...]