Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Korea, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Two Hong Kong cosmetics retailers have fallen victim to the coronavirus crisis facing legal action over unpaid rent. British-headquartered chain Lush has been sued by its landlord, Shun Cheong Properties Management, for three months of allegedly unpaid rent…
French fashion house Louis Vuitton is raising prices for its luxury items in the South Korean market, allegedly in a bid to take advantage of a prospective surge in buying following the coronavirus outbreak. According to Pulse News Korea, the brand has raised…
Offline retailers in South Korea, 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 remain indoors for extended periods due to work-from-home…
GS Retail, which operates the South Korean convenience-store chain GS25, has reported a huge profit increase for this year’s first financial quarter, boosted by sales of pre-packed meal kits popular during the coronavirus lockdown. GS Retailreported a KRW88.8…
Hyundai Department Store will hold the industry’s first no-guest fashion show to help small and medium-sized fashion brands suffering from the aftermath of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The fashion show will feature 25 Korean small and mid-sized fashion…
South Korean premium grocery-delivery firm Kurly has procured funding of US$150 million from its existing investors. Backers contributing to the Series E funding round were Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Digital Sky Technologies, placing the firm’s…
The pending merger between South Korea’s number one food-delivery app Baedal Minjok (Baemin), and Yogiyo, the industry’s second-largest player, has fuelled widespread concerns about monopolistic market behavior. In particular, recent changes to Baemin’s fee…
South Korean AI-based fashion-tech firm Odd Concepts has raised US$6 million in Series B funding, taking the company’s accumulated investments to about US$10 million. The funding is expected to allow the business to expand its growth into Asia-Pacific…
South Korean retail sales surged 9.1 percent in February, despite the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. The year-on-year increase reflected consumers buying more daily necessities online as the virus spread. And, with people largely staying home,…
Starbucks Korea will expand social-distancing measures across its branches nationwide from Thursday, after a successful trial at some stores in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. The company plans to ensure a safe distance between customers and employees is…
Panic buying is spreading like wildfire among a number of countries as fear of the coronavirus deepens. But large shopping malls in South Korea, however, are as peaceful as in the pre-coronavirus era. Experts argue that prior experiences in dealing with…
Panic buying is spreading like wildfire among a number of countries as fear of the coronavirus deepens. But large shopping malls in South Korea, however, are as peaceful as in the pre-coronavirus era. Experts argue that prior experiences in dealing with…
South Korea’s largest carriers have decreased the frequency of flights to Vietnamese tourist hotspots over rising Covid-19 infections at home. Korean Air, the largest airline in South Korea, has announced that it will suspend many flights departing from Seoul…
The number of South Korean cafes continues to grow at a brisk pace, according to a government recent study. The Korea Fair Trade Commission reported there were 15,036 coffee shops in South Korea as of 2018, an increase of 7.9 percent (1105 shops) over the…
We have been hearing news about different factories’ production struggles over the coronavirus outbreak for almost two months now. Unfortunately, on Saturday, Samsung temporarily closed one factory in South Korea over a confirmed case of the coronavirus,…
Vietnam’s private airline Bamboo Airways will suspend all routes to and from South Korea to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Both routes from central Da Nang and Nha Trang to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport will cease operation starting…
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