SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The landscape of Halloween parties is changing as more Koreans are preparing for indoor home costume parties this Saturday to both enjoy the celebrations and fend off the coronavirus. Online shopping mall Gmarket reported a 209 percent increase in sales of candle holder sales between Oct. 15-21 compared to [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite the prolonged economic recession resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of luxury items have marked a sharp increase. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, sales of luxury items at the nation’s major department stores were up 9.2 percent year on year in [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid sluggish consumer spending resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, transactions of secondhand items are growing at a rapid pace. Consumers with thinner wallets are increasingly looking for cheap used items rather than buying new ones, while liquidating the items that they don’t use for cash. According [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a plunge in South Korean consumers’ spending at department stores, cinemas and other large indoor facilities, an expert said Friday. In contrast, consumer spending at outdoor and small facilities, including neighborhood grocery stores and camping sites, has gone up, said Lee Jae-ho, head [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean life insurance companies are launching mini-plans that come with affordable premiums and simple insurance policies to target young customers. The Korea Life Insurance Association said on Tuesday that mini-plans are becoming a new trend in the insurance industry. Normally, a life insurance plan requires customers to pay [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — With the ‘stay at home’ trend spreading, ignited by the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, consumer demand for indoor household items has increased while that for fashion and decoration items such as jewelry has declined. Lotte Home Shopping Inc., a shopping unit of retail conglomerate Lotte, analyzed the trend [...]
INCHEON, Sept. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s amended Automobile Management Act, known colloquially as the Korean lemon law, which took effect in December 2018, appears to have long way to go to be settled down. Some critics point out that the law is only loosely enforced, especially given that there are still a number [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey has revealed that almost 6 in 10 Korean consumers are taking delivery of food on a regular basis through a food subscription service. According to an online survey conducted by the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. of 1,375 local consumers, 57.2 percent of the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey has found that South Korean consumers access mobile shopping applications more than four times a week and make actual purchases through them more than twice a week. Unlike male consumers who tend to buy as much as they need, women showed a tendency to buy more [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean consumers purchased far fewer nonessential items in the first quarter than normal due to economic uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Sunday. The combined essential spending came to 84.81 trillion won (US$71 billion) in the January-March period, accounting for 40.56 percent of total household expenditures, [...]