SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea advanced 4.4 percent in July from a year earlier as online platforms have enjoyed a spike in demand for groceries and home appliances amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Sunday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 11.46 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Small merchants and local retailers are facing another business setback as South Korea’s stricter social distancing, adopted following a spike in new coronavirus infections, could prompt people to refrain from visiting restaurants and other offline outlets. South Korea has reported nearly 1,300 new cases of COVID-19 in the past [...]
SEOUL, July 24 (Korea Bizwire) — With the coronavirus pandemic increasing demand for so-called ‘untact’ consumption, retailers are scrambling to introduce unmanned checkout services. E-Mart Inc., South Korea’s largest discount store chain by sales, currently operates some 700 unmanned checkout kiosks across 110 stores, or 78 percent of all E-Mart stores nationwide. After first introducing [...]
SEOUL, July 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Jung Se-hee, a 40-year-old office worker, recently bought a one-month mobile voucher offered by Burger King. It allows her to buy 30 cups of Americano for 4,900 won (US$4.11), a real steal as the price tag translates to just 170 won for a cup of coffee. “I started it [...]
SEOUL, July 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Shoppers who want to bag a bargain may have to visit major retailers across the country over the weekend as major outlets are planning to hold big events in line with a state-led sales festival designed to boost spending amid the pandemic. South Korea kicked off the 17-day sales [...]
SEOUL, June 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s major retailers are expected to see their operating profits more than halve in the second quarter amid the new coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Thursday. The combined operating profits of Lotte Shopping Co., Shinsegae Inc., E-Mart Inc. and Hyundai Department Store Co. are estimated to be 60.3 [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizewire) — Beset by falling revenues amid the new coronavirus pandemic, South Korean retailers have been struggling to stay afloat by expanding the online sales business amid the non-contact trend. Now, they are further going online by taking the note of livestreaming shopping tools in a bid to woo more customers. [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Offline retailers, once on the verge of a crisis after consumers flocked to e-commerce vendors following the coronavirus outbreak, are now seeing a chance to make a comeback. As people are staying indoors for an extended period of time due to work-from-home policies and delays to the school year, [...]
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.1 percent in February from a year earlier as more people purchased daily necessities through online platforms amid the spread of the new coronavirus here, data showed Monday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 10.6 trillion won (US$8.68 [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean retail industry may suffer larger losses from the novel coronavirus than the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015, analysts said Monday, citing the new virus’ high rate of infection and tightened quarantine efforts. “The new coronavirus may have a lower fatality rate compared with MERS, [...]