SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Seven in 10 households made online purchases of processed foods in 2024, a survey showed Tuesday, marking a sharp increase from a year earlier and a significant change in where and how people shop. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, 72.3 percent of households [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — When Kim Nam-seok’s 10-year-old son begged him for a dog, Kim hesitated. The responsibilities of caring for a live animal were daunting. But last month, he gave in — not with a trip to the pet store, but by bringing home Luna, an AI-powered robot dog. “I didn’t expect much,” [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Beauty products are undergoing a transformation in South Korea, emerging as fashion-forward accessories among the country’s style-savvy MZ generation — a demographic encompassing those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s. No longer limited to cosmetic utility, items like lip balms, tints, and compact cushions are increasingly designed to [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping has become the dominant channel for purchasing home appliances in South Korea, outpacing all other major product categories in digital penetration, according to newly released government data. Figures from Statistics Korea’s national portal show that online transactions accounted for 53.7% of total retail sales in the home appliance [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite persistent inflation and slowing economic growth, a growing segment of affluent older South Koreans is defying conventional spending patterns, embracing digital platforms and youth-driven consumer trends, a new study reveals. According to data released Monday by Shinhan Card’s Big Data Research Center, the top 20 percent of credit card [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s home-sharing market, led by platforms like Airbnb, has surged more than twentyfold in just three years, with young adults emerging as the dominant force behind its rapid expansion. According to newly released data submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the National Assembly’s Strategy [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Electronics is seeing rapid growth in its home-focused lifestyle community “Life.zip,” with membership more than doubling in the past two months to surpass 560,000 users, according to industry data released Sunday. If current momentum holds, the platform is expected to reach one million members by the end of 2025. [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean investors are turning their attention from traditional tech giants to artificial intelligence (AI) leaders, with U.S.-based software firm Palantir Technologies now surpassing Apple in Korean-held investment value. According to data released by the Korea Securities Depository, as of April 30, domestic investors held $4.26 billion (approximately 6 trillion [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — In cities across South Korea, brakeless fixed-gear bicycles—commonly known as “fixies”—are rapidly growing in popularity among young people, particularly students. Despite repeated safety concerns from parents, drivers, and law enforcement, regulatory action and institutional safeguards remain absent. On May 2, in Myeongji International New City in Busan’s Gangseo District, students [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — A month after South Korea fully reinstated short selling across all listed stocks, expectations that foreign investors would return to the domestic market have yet to materialize, despite signs of market resilience and easing volatility. According to data from the Korea Exchange, total short-selling turnover on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ [...]