SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The accelerating shift from traditional pay TV to online streaming platforms is deepening South Korea’s cord-cutting trend, as the number of pay TV subscribers continued to decline in the second half of 2024. According to a report released Thursday by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the total number [...]
SEOUL, March 27 (Korea Bizwire) — On weekends, 55-year-old Jang Mo clocks into a small dessert café in Seoul not for a paycheck, but for family. She spends 12 hours a day pulling espresso shots, washing dishes, and scrubbing floors—all to support her daughter’s dream of running a successful bakery. But dreams, Jang has learned, [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Starbucks is breaking from its long-standing emphasis on face-to-face interaction by introducing self-ordering kiosks in South Korea and Japan — the first such move by the global coffee chain in either country. Starbucks Korea announced on Monday that it will begin rolling out kiosks this week at a limited number [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — For the first time since statistics began in 2018, South Korea’s once-booming coffee shop sector has shrunk, alongside a broader pullback across key self-employment industries. The decline underscores mounting pressure on small business owners from domestic economic stagnation, market saturation, and rising operating costs. According to data released Sunday by [...]
SEOUL, May 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Facing changing demographics and a slowdown in core businesses like duty-free retail, South Korea’s leading hotel chains are pivoting toward the senior living sector, identifying it as a promising new growth engine in an aging society. According to industry sources, hotel companies such as Lotte Hotel & Resort, Hotel Shilla, [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading hotels and department stores are turning to art-driven strategies to attract affluent, experience-seeking customers, elevating their venues from commercial spaces to immersive cultural destinations. With the rise of “art marketing,” retailers are integrating curated exhibitions, docent-led tours, and gallery partnerships into their business models. This trend is [...]
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Only about half of businesses in 100 key service sectors closely tied to people’s daily lives — such as hair salons and grocery stores — survive after their first three years, government data showed Tuesday. According to data compiled by the National Tax Service (NTS), the three-year survival rate [...]
SEOUL, April 19, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading food delivery platform, Baemin, has drawn public backlash after introducing commission fees on takeout orders, a move critics say could burden small businesses and consumers while signaling the platform’s shifting business strategy. Starting April 14, 2025, Baemin began charging intermediary service fees on takeout orders, ending [...]
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, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A South Korean court has ruled that the death of a delivery driver who ran a red light and was killed in a traffic accident while rushing to meet delivery deadlines qualifies as a work-related accident. The Seoul Administrative Court’s 8th Division, presided over by Judge Lee Jung-hee, sided [...]