SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of dust masks and air purifiers soared in South Korea as citizens become increasingly concerned about seasonal fine and yellow dust here, industry data showed Tuesday. Originating from deserts in southern Mongolia and northern China, the dust has been a source of concern here, particularly in the spring. [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Augmented reality is becoming one of the hottest trends in South Korea’s retail sector following the worldwide success of Niantic’s Pokémon GO, offering local consumers a unique yet more convenient shopping experience. Last month, Hanssem, a leading home furnishing company, equipped its mobile shopping app with an AR service, [...]
SEOUL, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Local businesses are introducing so-called “concept stores” to improve the image of their brands. Such stores include pop-up stores or traditional offline shops with in-house cafés and gardens, or retail spaces decorated with different themes to appeal to more customers. SkinFood, a cosmetics company, operates two outlets with cafés [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Lotte Group is facing huge losses as its outlets in China have remained closed for about two months over Beijing’s apparent retaliation against the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea, according to group officials Friday. Chinese authorities ordered Lotte to close its stores following [...]
SEJONG, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s online sales continued their upbeat mode to reach a fresh record high in March amid recovering consumer sentiment, government data showed Thursday. Total online transactions reached 6.33 trillion won (US$5.58 billion) in March, up 21.3 percent from 5.22 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – E-Mart Inc., South Korea’s largest discount outlet chain by revenue, is closing down its business in China two decades after it first entered the country, the company said Tuesday, as widening losses and worsening business conditions stemming from a diplomatic standoff have left the company with little leeway for [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – The United States ranked as the fourth-largest overseas market for South Korean cosmetic products in the first quarter of 2017 despite concerns of protectionism, a trade association said Thursday. In the January-March period, South Korean companies trailed French, Canadian and Chinese firms in terms of makeup products shipped to [...]
SEJONG, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s corporate watchdog said Wednesday that it has slapped a combined 2.2 billion won (US$1.94 million) in fines on six local department stores for abusing their power to control their subcontractors. The companies — Shinsegae Department Store, Lotte Department Store, Hyundai Department Store, Hanwha Galleria, NC Department Store and AK Plaza — were accused of refusing to give back written contracts [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Strong sales of premium products allowed LG Electronics to beat out its main rival Samsung Electronics in the first-quarter TV market earnings race, data showed Wednesday. According to LG, its Home Entertainment (HE) division, which focuses on TVs, posted a record-high operating profit of 382.2 billion won (US$338 million) [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) – The decline of the retail industry – that is, the brick-and-mortar portion of the market – is no secret. In the U.S., major retailers have shuttered hundreds of stores over the past decade, including Sears and Kmart, which saw their numbers drop from some 3,800 to 1,430 stores over [...]