Reporting and analysis on retail, e-commerce, and consumer trends in Korea, updated continuously by our newsroom.
France’s flagship carrier Air France increased the number of direct flights between Incheon and Paris earlier this month to meet growing demand from Koreans interested in visiting France’s capital. This year, Air France is celebrating the 35th anniversary of…
Samsung Electronics is opening research centers dedicated to artificial intelligence technology in the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia. That will bring the number of Samsung’s AI research centers to five, adding to existing ones in Korea and California. The…
Retail giants like Lotte and Shinsegae don’t have to worry about getting their duty-free licenses renewed every five years anymore. A task force on improving duty-free regulations decided on Wednesday to propose the government extend duty-free licenses for…
Department store sales rose this month on the strength of several family-oriented holidays and special occasions, retail industry data showed Tuesday. Numbers provided by major Korean retailers showed Children’s Day, which falls on May 5 every year, a…
Asian-Korean restaurant chain Seoul Garden has marked its 35th anniversary with a celebration at its first Malaysian outlet, in Gurney Plaza, Penang. The brand’s grill and steamboat buffet included marinated meats such as coffee chicken and beef bulgogi.…
Koo, 73, had been ill for a year, LG Group said in a statement. Koo had been fighting a brain disease and had undergone surgery, said a group official who declined to be identified. “Becoming the third chairman of LG at the age of 50 in 1995, Koo established…
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed Korea’s decision to regularly reveal its currency market intervention records. Korea’s Finance Ministry said it would disclose the records starting in March 2019 to help remove unnecessary misunderstandings…
Two of the Moon Jae-in administration’s top economic officials are at odds over the minimum wage increase’s impact on hiring, raising concerns among experts about the government’s future policy direction. “I think the minimum wage increase must have had an…
Fast Retailing Group brand Gu plans to launch in South Korea this year with a store in Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Seoul. With the brand message “Your freedom”, the Japanese clothing store will have a sales floor area of 1400sqm and offer items for women, men…
Overseas card spending by Koreans hit a fresh record high in the first quarter on rising outbound tourists, central bank data showed Thursday. In the January-March period, a record $5.07 billion worth of purchases were made abroad, up 11.4 percent from three…
The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry is holding job fairs at Korean universities over the next couple of weeks. According to the German commerce of chamber, leading German companies will be participating in the job fairs including Audi…
Hotel Shilla’s airport retailer Shilla Duty Free has posted record-high first-quarter sales of KRW1.14 trillion (US$1 billion). Korean-headquartered Shilla Duty Free earned KRW47.6 billion in operating profit in the quarter, mainly because of increased sales…
Hyundai Department Store’s online mall has launched an augmented reality (AR) service so its customers can virtually try on make-up products. It covers more than 20 products from eight beauty brands, including Benefit, Estee Lauder and Shu Uemura. Using an AR…
South Korean travelers’ spending overseas hit a record high in the first quarter this year as people went on trips during winter school breaks and extended holidays, statistics from the central bank showed on 6 May. Some 7.43 million South Koreans went abroad…
n an unexpected twist in the ongoing saga over the ban on ZTE importing US components, president Donald Trump has indicated he may throw a lifeline to the Chinese vendor. On Sunday, Trump tweeted on his official account that he is working with Chinese…
South Korean discount store chain owner E-Mart Inc says it has started testing a robot to provide an automated concierge service to shoppers. Dubbed “Pepper”, the robot concierge will be stationed at an E-Mart outlet in Seoul for about three weeks, the…
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