SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite the rising cost of living in South Korea, premium supermarkets are quickly gaining popularity among high-income earners, with a focus on quality over quantity. The popularity of premium products as a recent retail industry trend has inspired a number of supermarket chains including E-Mart and Lotte Mart, as market [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Following the government’s move to shorten legal working hours, an increasing number of South Korean retailers are expected to help employees achieve a healthy work-life balance. The Environment & Labor Committee at the National Assembly passed a reform bill today that prohibits employees from working more than 52 hours in [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of laptops are on a steady rise, despite smartphones increasingly taking on the role of personal computers. On the back of growing popularity for high-end gaming laptops and the trend of each person owning their own, laptops became the third most sold electronic goods at E-Mart last year, following [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A new study has revealed that retail sales in South Korea during the winter increase when the weather is chilly, but not too cold. The study conducted by supermarket giant E-Mart showed that the number of customers peaked when the temperature hit minus 5 degrees Celsius, also known as the [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Chemical Co. and two other firms were fined for providing insufficient and misleading information on its humidifier sterilizer products, the country’s corporate watchdog said Monday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it has decided to levy a total of 134 million won (US$124,000) in fines on SK Chemical, [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — E-Mart, South Korea’s biggest discount store chain operator, topped other businesses by recruiting the largest number of new employees over the past five years, a local think tank said Sunday. In a survey carried out on the country’s top 30 conglomerates’ affiliates which employ more than 300 people, E-Mart [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Pronounced “howl” in Korean, “haul” is to shopping what “mukbang” is to food. An online phenomenon exclusive to South Korea, mukbang refers to a vlogger filming him or herself consuming vast amounts of food all in one sitting while simultaneously continuing to hold a conversation with viewers. Swap out [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Phytoncide air purifiers that supposedly recreate “forest air”, standard air purifiers, humidifiers and commercial oxygen generators are being bought up by droves of South Korean consumers, who are spending what it takes to keep their home environment free of the fine dust that periodically blankets the nation in the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean retail giant Shinsegae Inc. said Friday it has signed an initial agreement with a foreign investment firm and a private equity firm to strengthen its e-commerce business amid a rapid expansion of the country’s online market. Shinsegae said it will hive off the online business divisions of [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean companies are pushing to expand their presence in the Middle Eastern market after suffering backlash from a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over a U.S. missile defense system here, industry watchers said Friday. Earlier in the day, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) [...]