SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Hanssem, an interior and lifestyle company, said Monday it will open its first Chinese branch in Shanghai this week to compete in the 740 trillion-won (US$656 billion) market. The two-story Hanssem Shanghai Flagship Store will open Tuesday in the Changning District. The store will cover some 13,000 square meters, [...]
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) – It’s been a good year for IKEA Korea as the Swedish furniture giant is set to top its sales from last fiscal year. IKEA, since the opening of its Gwangmyeong store in December 2014, has reshaped the landscape of the country’s furniture industry, with the Gwangmyeong branch becoming the company’s [...]
SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) – There is a strange culture among South Koreans in which the higher the price is, the better the product sells. For years, the South Korean media and a good portion of consumers have noticed and questioned this absurd trend in a country that has been hit by record high [...]
SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) – DIY products are appealing to more and more South Korean consumers who have grown to seek individuality, and are now becoming popular in unconventional products like cosmetics or fashion items. Local cosmetics brand Etude House launched this month a lipstick product dubbed “Dear My Glass Tinting Lips-Talk” which comes [...]
GWANGMYEONG, South Korea, Dec. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – December 18 will mark the second anniversary of IKEA’s launch in the Korean market. According to the company, its Korean operations have been a success so far. Annual turnover for the 2016 fiscal year (September 2015 – August 2016) was 345 billion won ($292.3 million), while this [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Leading furniture makers in South Korea are seeking ways to tap into the overseas market to find new growth engines beyond the saturated domestic market amid sluggish consumption, industry officials said Thursday. Major furniture markers have generated most of their revenue from the domestic market, but they have been [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Following the September 9 recall of 15 dressers after criticisms that they’re prone to tipping over, the Swedish furniture giant said Thursday that it had halted sales of an additional 15 dressers in the Korean market. During a press conference held in Seoul, IKEA Korea CEO Andre Schmidtgall said [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Swedish furniture group IKEA on Friday said it will recall 15 dressers sold in South Korea over concerns they could pose a safety risk to children, months after similar products caused deaths in North America. IKEA recalled 36 million dressers in the U.S. and Canada in June after six [...]
SEOUL, July 25 (Korea Bizwire) – In what some might see as a late response to the recent controversy over IKEA’s Malm dresser, which has been cited for the death of at least three children in North America, the Korean government has decided to investigate the safety of all dressers currently being distributed domestically. According [...]
SEOUL, July 19 (Korea Bizwire) — IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant, has stopped selling Malm dressers that have caused several child deaths in North America, but will continue selling them to customers in Korea. Given the company’s position, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) on July 19 demanded that IKEA Korea change its [...]