SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A string of major retailers, including duty-free shops and hypermarket chains, across the country have temporarily shut down some of their stores, industry sources said Monday, stoking concerns that China coronavirus outbreak could affect consumer confidence in the sector. Shilla Duty Free, one of the country’s leading duty-free operator, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Retail sales in South Korea moved up 4.8 percent last year on the back of brisk sales at online malls, while revenue from offline stores lost ground, data showed Wednesday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 132.9 trillion won (US$113 billion) last year, according [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — As the 2020 is the Year of the White Rat on the Chinese zodiac calendar, retailers are expected to present related products and hold special promotional events. Emart24, Shinsegae Group’s convenience store chain, will begin selling white mouse-shaped marshmallows made by the German company Aseli from Saturday. Furthermore, Shinsegae [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — After a tough year, South Korea’s major retailers are tipped to log a modest improvement in their earnings next year on the back of improved business conditions and cost-cutting efforts, industry sources said Friday. This year has been the toughest ever for two homegrown retail giants, Emart and Lotte [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean retail companies are engaged in a fierce battle with Japanese companies in the Vietnamese market, which has emerged as a “post-China.” According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, Vietnam’s retail industry has been growing rapidly, with an annual average growth rate of 10.9 percent between 2013 and [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean shopping mall operators are paying attention to the National Assembly’s upcoming decision on a new legislative bill during the regular session that starts on Thursday. The ruling party is currently pushing for stricter regulations that would require large-sized malls, so-called super supermarkets (SSMs), and shopping complexes to [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The retail industry, cornered by a low-price offensive from e-commerce businesses, is striking back with a so-called ‘malling’ strategy. ‘Malling’ refers to all leisure activities at the mall, including shopping, dining, and watching movies or experiencing other forms of entertainment. Retail stores are focusing on children. The logic is [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Shopping malls are scrambling to overcome what is seen as one of the worst crises that they have ever faced. Retailers are pulling out all the stops to outlive the crisis, including selling off real estate and repurchasing shares. Lotte Corp. purchased 200,000 shares of Lotte Shopping Co., one [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Plastic waste is a nagging headache for Asia’s fourth-largest economy. After banning plastic cups and bags, the government is now moving to ban paper boxes and packaging tapes. Starting November, supermarkets will stop providing paper boxes and tape that shoppers can use to carry their groceries home, a move [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Empty paper boxes, tape and straps for packaging will disappear from large discount stores in the near future as part of an initiative to encourage customers to make use of more eco-friendly alternatives. The Ministry of Environment held a voluntary agreement ceremony Thursday afternoon to foster the use of [...]