SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The COVID-19 pandemic has dampened overall consumption in South Korea, but spending on insurance has been an exception, a report showed. Domestic households’ monthly insurance expenditures averaged 84,000 won (US$69.15) in 2019 but rose to 89,000 won in 2020 and 92,000 won in 2021, according to a report from [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of men are buying leggings and cosmetics for their own use. Shinhan Card Co., a major credit card company in South Korea, analyzed purchases of leggings using the company’s credit cards between January and September of last year, which showed that purchases among men had jumped [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — In the third quarter of last year, which marked the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, single-person households consisting of young people under 40 years of age marked a sharp increase in their spending on drinking and smoking compared to a year earlier. This group’s monthly spending for purchases [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans have become the world’s 4th largest spenders on smartphone apps, data showed Thursday. Industry tracker App Annie reported that mobile consumers worldwide spent US$170 billion on mobile apps last year, which was 19 percent more than the previous year. Chinese consumers spent the most on mobile apps, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 1 in 4 South Korean small businesses had to abort research and development (R&D) activities because of the pandemic last year, a survey showed Tuesday. The Korea Industrial Technology Association conducted a survey of 479 companies with a dedicated institute or a research facility, among which 65 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — As people continue to stay indoors in the pandemic era, South Koreans have increasingly become used to so-called homewear, home cooking and going to convenience stores near home. Shinhan Card Co., a major credit card company, compared the monthly usage of cards in early 2019, prior to the pandemic [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is expected to be the largest spender on chip fabrication facility equipment next year, a report showed Wednesday, amid its push to expand its semiconductor supply chain. The country, home to memory giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., is estimated to invest US$30 billion in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea was the world’s second-largest spender on chip equipment in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, amid a global semiconductor shortage. South Korea, home to major memory chip producers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., invested US$6.62 billion in chipmaking equipment in the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea tops the world charts in monthly spending on mobile games, a survey showed Wednesday. Industry tracker App Annie reported that each smartphone user in Asia’s fourth-largest economy spends an average of US$7.20 every month on Apple’s App Store and $13 on Google Play. The country had the [...]
HONG KONG SAR, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – China has seen some of the most destructive earthquakes in history. For example, the devastating 2008 Earthquake in Sichuan province killed over 69,000 people, left up to 11 million people homeless and caused up to US$20 billion in property damage. The country sits atop seismically active areas, and it [...]