SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major department store chains are actively adding more luxury brand shops specializing in men’s wear, women’s wear and shoes amid higher demand for luxury goods. Galleria Department Store, for instance, recently opened a Dior shoe shop at its Luxury Hall in southern Seoul, while Shinsegae Department Store [...]
GWANGMYEONG, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — IKEA Korea said Wednesday its sales fell 10 percent in this fiscal year in the first decline after entering South Korea in 2014 as more customers held back spending on home furnishing goods amid eased virus restrictions. The South Korean arm of the Swedish furniture maker said it logged [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Convenience stores, open even during the holidays, are seeing rising sales of pharmaceuticals and parcel delivery services. CU, South Korea’s top convenience store chain, saw sales of essential drugs jump by 16.5 percent in 2018 and 10.5 percent in 2019 during the four-day Chuseok fall harvest holiday. This year, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s camping industry generated about 6.3 trillion won (US$4.55 billion) in sales last year, with the number of registered campgrounds estimated at 2,703, and both figures marked positive year-to-year growth thanks to the rising popularity of camping in the post-pandemic era. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A civic group filed a complaint against Starbucks Coffee Korea on Friday in connection with giveaway picnic bags found to contain toxic chemicals. The company came under fire in July after formaldehyde, a carcinogen, was detected in “summer carry bags,” which it provided to customers who purchased 17 drinks [...]
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 [...]