SEOUL, Mar. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s consumer sentiment snapped an improvement for the third consecutive month in March amid soaring prices of farm goods and a slump in private spending, a central bank poll showed Tuesday. The composite consumer sentiment index stood at 100.7 this month, down from 101.9 the previous month, according [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — McDonald’s Korea said Thursday it will increase the price of 13 menu items by an average 3.7 percent, including the signature Big Mac, next week due to higher food and shipping costs. Under the plan, the price of a Big Mac will rise 300 won to 5,500 won (US$4.06) [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — With the end of the school year bringing a flurry of graduation and enrollment ceremonies at schools, the soaring price of flowers is a source of frustration among many. At a wholesale flower market in Seoul’s Seocho District, many customers were seen buying flowers and trying to make bouquets [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Major cosmetics companies in South Korea are raising prices, citing an increase in the price of raw materials, amid a hike in demand for cosmetics products after the lifting of indoor mask mandates. According to industry sources, foreign cosmetic brands Dior Beauty and Tom Ford Beauty, which have boutiques [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — With the year-end season in sight, luxury brands are going ahead with price hikes again on the back of stable demand. Chanel Korea announced on Thursday that it will raise the prices of all of its goods sold at its stores by 3 to 11 percent. This will mark [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Popular Korean snacks in the winter are rising in price, further discouraging consumer spending in South Korea. As recently as last year, 1,000 won (US$0.70) was enough to buy three fish-shaped buns, called “bungeoppang” in Korean, in downtown Seoul. Now, 1,000 won buys only one or two of them. [...]
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Inflation is resulting in higher lunch prices, prompting some to coin a new word “lunchflation” to describe the phenomenon. The Korea Consumer Agency reported that the price of “naemgnyeon,” cold buckwheat noodles served in various types of broth or mixed with spice, reached an average of 10,192 won as [...]
SEOUL, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Local bakeries and noodle restaurants are struggling with a spike in the price of flour and other ingredients since last year. For many small owner-operated businesses, buying and storing flour in advance is not an option, which has exposed them to the risk of direct impact from price fluctuations. [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean consumers are up in arms over luxury brands that are pushing up prices seemingly arbitrarily in recent days as a way to stimulate buying sentiment. French fashion company Chanel suddenly raised the price of some handbag items by up to 17 percent on Jan. 14. This price [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — With Starbucks preparing to raise drink prices, consumers are scrambling to ‘hoard’ Starbucks drink coupons. As of Tuesday, KakaoTalk mobile messenger gift shop’s bestseller list in the ‘coupons’ section showed that the top 15 items, except for third and 15th place, were Starbucks coupons. Since Starbucks coupons are valid [...]