SEJONG, May 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s finance ministry said Tuesday it will ease regulations on alcoholic drinks, in a bid for local producers to increase their competitiveness against foreign firms. Under the deregulatory move, which is subject to approval from the National Assembly, local firms will be allowed to produce alcoholic drinks under [...]
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean confectionery company Orion Corp. said Thursday it plans to strengthen its market presence with a reasonably priced snack line in China and Vietnam following its launch in South Korea. The reasonably priced snack line will offer products that focus on “cost-effectiveness” by setting prices based on convenience [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Outdoor activities are on the rise as the coronavirus outbreak stabilizes in South Korea, but products that help people minimize contact with others are still gaining popularity. WeMakePrice Inc., a local open market operator, said Wednesday that sales of camping gear designed to help people to sleep in their [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — U.S.-based electronic cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. said Wednesday that it will pull out of South Korea one year after its launch here following controversies over health concerns. Juul — which packages nicotine salts from leaf tobacco into one-time use cartridges — was launched in the country last May. [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping surged nearly 12 percent from a year earlier in March, data showed Wednesday, an apparent outcome of the new coronavirus outbreak that forced people to stay home. The value of online transactions came to about 12.58 trillion won (US$10.3 billion) in the month, up 11.8 percent from [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Offline retailers, once on the verge of a crisis after consumers flocked to e-commerce vendors following the coronavirus outbreak, are now seeing a chance to make a comeback. As people are staying indoors for an extended period of time due to work-from-home policies and delays to the school year, [...]
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — While the overall domestic industry is in a slump due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, some companies have benefited from changes in consumption patterns. For companies specializing in household goods and home interior, COVID-19 has actually been a boon, and these companies are the envy of [...]
SEJONG, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of cigarettes in South Korea rose 4.1 percent on-year in the first quarter of this year, data showed Wednesday, due to robust sales of traditional cigarettes. South Korean smokers purchased 810 million 20-cigarette packs in the January-March period, compared with 780 million packs in the same period last [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Lotte Shopping Co. — the operator of South Korea’s biggest department store and hypermarket chains — on Tuesday launched an ambitious online shopping website to better compete with major e-commerce operators, such as Coupang. Lotte ON integrates the websites of Lotte’s eight affiliates, including Lotte Department Store, the electronics [...]
SEOUL, April 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea fell in March as people refrained from visiting offline stores amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 10.89 trillion won (US$8.87 billion) last month, down 3.3 percent from 11.26 trillion won a [...]