SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung SDI Co., a major chemical unit under the country’s top conglomerate Samsung, said Thursday that it plans to spend around 1 trillion won (US$875 million) this year on beefing up its electric vehicle (EV) battery business. Samsung SDI said it plans to spend 975 billion won this year [...]
SEJONG, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it has recommended global furniture giant IKEA revise itsterms regarding refunds for canceled deliveries. IKEA, which opened its first store in southern Seoul in 2014, is running a delivery service for South Korean customers who are familiar with free packaging and door-to-door delivery. The service costs [...]
SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) – The increasing popularity of drinking at home alone or with family has lead to an increase in online sales of drinking-related products and snacks. According to online shopping site Tmon (www.tmon.co.kr), sales of beer and soju glasses, liquor mixers, and snacks to accompany alcoholic beverages are in high demand. Tmon officials [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Major franchise coffee shops in South Korea saw their revenue fall in 2015 in the face of tougher competition with cheap take-out coffee amid economic slowdown, heading to another tough year, data showed Tuesday. Homegrown coffee brands have sprung up in Asia’s fourth-largest economy over the past decade to [...]
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The Chinese beer Tsingtao has emerged as the No. 1 import brand in South Korea at a leading supermarket chain, industry data showed Friday, amid the rising popularity of Chinese cuisine in the country. According to the data compiled by E-Mart, Tsingtao outpaced other rivals in sales over the January-March [...]
SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean rice hit shelves in Beijing for the first time in history on Thursday to meet rising Chinese demand for Korean-made agricultural products and foodstuffs. China’s state-run agricultural trading company COFCO Corp. imported some 72 tons of South Korean rice in February and put it on sale in an upscale [...]
SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s No. 1 duty-free operator, said Thursday it is mulling an acquisition of a foreign luxury goods maker with high brand value in a bid to further bolster its business. The move is seen as the company’s strategy to create synergies by having a premium [...]
SEOUL, April 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top tech giants are expected to enjoy improved sales from their mobile businesses, industry watchers said Thursday, as their flagship smartphones just released in March are boasting better-than-expected sales at home and abroad. The average daily sales of Samsung Electronics Co.‘s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Televisions produced by small and medium-sized companies are becoming popular for their unique value proposition of a high-quality image at a reasonable price. According to online shopping site Tmon (www.tmon.co.kr), the Q1 sales of TVs manufactured by small-size domestic companies increased by 63 percent year over year. As a [...]
SEJONG, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Sales of Korean cosmetics abroad have shown dramatic growth over the past few years, with exports now eclipsing the three trillion won mark. The Chinese market showed particular interest in Korean beauty products. According to data from the Korea Customs Service, exports last year increased by 53.1 percent compared [...]