Korean embracing the chill, retail sales number peak in low degrees

A new study has revealed that Korean shoppers embrace the cold winter climate – but not much beyond minus 5 degrees.

Supermarket operator E-Mart says the number of customers peaks during winter when the temperature hits minus 5 degrees Celsius, also known as the ‘golden temperature’ in the South Korean retail industry.

Researchers learned that customers were most likely to come out and shop when the mercury fluctuated around the golden temperature, after analysing the shopping patterns of consumers from last December to early January on Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays.

The number of visitors to E-Mart reached the highest levels between December 20 and 22 of  last year, totaling 2.17 million shoppers. During this period, the temperature dropped to around minus 5 degrees Celsius.

Between January 31 and February 2, 2.12 million people shopped at E-Mart stores across the country, with the temperature plunging to a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius on average.

During the seven weeks when the study was conducted, the temperature stayed at a low of minus 4 to minus 7 degrees Celsius on the top four most visited days.

The best temperature for retail sales didn’t come often, however.

The number of customers dropped when the mercury rose to minus 0.3 degrees Celsius, with only 2.05 million people visiting E-Mart stores on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the third week of January.

When it was too cold, retail sales were impacted negatively, with the number of customers plunging below 2 million during some days in January when the temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

“When cold waves hit and temperatures drop below minus 10 degrees Celsius in the winter, shoppers tend to avoid offline shopping. At the same time, warm weather also doesn’t help retail sales as sales of seasonal products like heating supplies become sluggish. We believe around minus 5 degrees Celsius is best for retail sales,” an E-Mart spokesperson said.