Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Korea, updated continuously by our newsroom.
Fashion footwear retailer Bearpaw is expanding its presence in South Korea with 10-year partner Wing’s Foot Korea. In representing the Bearpaw brand to the consumers of South Korea and Japan, Wing’s Foot has introduced an extensive line of footwear and an…
No Signboard Holdings has entered into a master franchise agreement with South Korean Haimarrow Food Service and US firm HFS Global to develop and operate Mom’s Touch chicken and burger restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia. The group has been granted the…
South Korean mobile messaging platform Kakao is spinning off its e-commerce unit for further expansion. The new organisation will be Kakao’s largest spin-off, worth about KRW510.3 billion (US$458.6 million) by December. It will take over the operation of the…
BonGousse Rice Burger, which was acquired Tuesday by chain Nene Chicken, is receiving fierce criticism from franchisees for failing to inform them of the deal. The rice burger chain was established in 2010. The brand rose to fame thanks to its popularity…
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin is due to receive his appeals court sentence tomorrow. The leader of Korea’s largest retail conglomerate is facing up to 14 years in jail. Shin has already served eight months of the 30-month sentence he received over…
SK Telecom will develop artificial intelligence-based (AI) hospitality services for the Paradise Hotel Busan, the mobile carrier said Wednesday. The company hopes to use its AI technology to improve various hospitality services offered at the hotel, located…
Messaging platform Line has partnered with consumer electronics firm Bang & Olufsen to release a Brown-Bear themed speaker. The collaboration attests to the popularity of the chat app within Asia and of its proprietary characters, which are in familiar daily…
South Korean firm SK Holdings is planning to invest KRW35 billion (US$31 million) into the contemporary fashion brand Rails. The investment, which will be channeled through its American investment subsidiary Plutus Capital, will finance its acquisition of…
Discount chain Emart will launch its PK Market grocery store chain in downtown Los Angeles in the second half of next year. This is Emart’s first expansion into the U.S. market. The company said that it signed a 10-year contract on a 4,803-square-meter…
The Korea Sale Festa beginning Sept. 28 will fail to fulfill its aim of boosting consumption and helping small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as a growing number of retailers and consumers have turned away from the government-initiated discount event.…
South Korea’s Customs service has released an intellectual property infringement report detailing the most-seized counterfeit goods over the past four years. According to the report, South Korean officials seized more fake Louis Vuitton products than any…
The country’s first duty-free store available to returning travelers will open at Incheon International Airport as early as next May, the Finance Ministry announced. Currently, duty-free purchases are allowed only for passengers departing Korea, either at an…
Samsung Group affiliates sold off shares in each other’s companies on Friday in a major step toward revamping the conglomerate’s governance structure and removing its byzantine web of cross-shareholding. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance put 2.61 million…
Unlike its telecom service competitors SK Telecom and KT, LG U+, the smallest of the three, is taking a two-track strategy when it comes to voice commands for its internet protocol TV (IPTV) service. LG U+ said on Wednesday that it will enable its customers…
The first Decathlon South Korea store has opened. The French-headquartered sports goods retailer is rapidly expanding its Asian footprint, last year opening its first store in Indonesia and in January planning its fourth Singapore store, a 5000sqm flagship.…
South Korean retail operators Lotte and Shinsegae are competing to buy the 21-year-old local subsidiary of Japanese convenience-store operator Ministop. Shinsegae and Lotte respectively own rival chains Emart24 and 7-Eleven and are both reportedly seeking to…
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