SEOUL, April 24, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s retail sector is undergoing a seismic shift as e-commerce giants and traditional retailers alike double down on fresh food—a category once dominated by brick-and-mortar stores—as a key to future growth and survival. Coupang, the country’s leading e-commerce platform, is aggressively expanding its fresh food business in 2025, [...]
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) — As the U.S.-China trade war escalates in 2025, South Korea’s retail and small manufacturing sectors are bracing for a potential flood of low-cost Chinese goods that could destabilize domestic markets. Industry concerns have mounted following a series of aggressive tariff measures by former U.S. President Donald Trump. On April 9, [...]
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean convenience store chain GS25 is turning missed search results into a powerful tool for product innovation, using customer data from its mobile app to identify and launch new alcoholic beverages. GS25 announced Sunday that it has been analyzing “search failure” data from its app Our Neighborhood GS, particularly [...]
SEOUL, April 17, (Korea Bizwire) — As climate change shortens South Korea’s transitional seasons and extends the summer, retail sectors are seeing shifting consumer behaviors and divergent business fortunes. While spring fashion sales slump amid erratic weather and weak consumer sentiment, electronics retailers are benefiting from an early surge in demand for summer appliances. According [...]
SEOUL, April 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top food delivery app Baemin is facing mounting criticism from small business owners after it began charging a 6.8% service fee on takeout orders this week—a move seen as a reversal of the hard-won compromise on delivery commissions reached in 2024. On April 14, the first day the [...]
SEOUL, April 15, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s TV home shopping industry continues to face mounting financial strain as broadcasting fees soared to consume more than 70 percent of television sales revenue in 2024, despite a modest rise in overall sales. According to a report released Monday by the Korea TV Home Shopping Association, the [...]
SEOUL, April 11 (Korea Bizwire) — IKEA Korea, the South Korean operations of Swedish furniture giant IKEA, said Friday it will strengthen the “omnichannel” strategy to boost sales. IKEA Korea currently operates four outlets — three near the capital of Seoul and one in the southeastern port city of Busan. The fifth one is set [...]
SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — In a landmark transformation fusing history, architecture, and high fashion, Shinsegae Department Store has unveiled The Heritage, a luxury boutique complex housed in the meticulously restored former head office of Korea’s First Bank in central Seoul’s Myeong-dong district. The neoclassical building, originally constructed in 1935 and designated as Seoul City [...]
SEOUL, April 1(Korea Bizwire) — The country’s financial watchdog on Tuesday raised questions over the circumstances surrounding Homeplus Co.’s debt sale and filing for court rehabilitation and called on private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd. to be more responsible for the retailer’s fiasco. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has been inspecting MBK Partners, which controls [...]
SEOUL, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s quick commerce (or “Q-commerce”) market—defined by delivery times under an hour—is rapidly expanding as major players including Emart, Naver, and Daiso aggressively enter the fray, intensifying competition in the nation’s retail and e-commerce sectors. Emart, the country’s largest hypermarket chain, has quietly rejoined the Q-commerce arena after [...]