Brand X Corp. posts major sales jump amid leggings boom

Brand X Corp., a company behind fitness wear brand Xexymix, reported a whopping 113 percent on-year increase in sales last year, thanks to the popularity of leggings during the coronavirus pandemic. The social commerce startup posted a revenue of 139.8 billion won ($126.8 million) in 2020, while racking up 8.4 billion won in operating profit and 7.2 billion won in net profit, the company said in a tentative earnings report released on Monday. The firm’s full-year sales marked a two-fold i

Feb. 15, 2021

Convenience stores outperform pandemic-hit department stores in 2020

Convenience stores outperformed major department stores for the first time in terms of offline sales last year amid the country's yearlong social distancing scheme, data showed Sunday. The combined sales of the top three convenience store chains -- GS25, CU and 7-Eleven -- took up 31 percent of the total offline sales in local retail industry, up from 29.2 percent a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. On the other hand, the combined percentage of bi

Feb. 14, 2021

[Herald Interview] Chaul: How Beiersdorf’s Korean tea-inspired skin care brand came about

In November the South Korean unit of German personal care giant Beiersdorf, the company behind brands such as Nivea and Eucerin, launched skin care brand Chaul. Its first lineup is inspired by the tea that grows in the southern part of the country -- in Hadong County, South Gyeongsang Province. Chaul, the first Beiersdorf brand to be exclusively developed and launched in Asia, was created in Korea with plans to branch out into other markets as the company recognizes the country’s famous K

Feb. 11, 2021

LG H&H and Amorepacific: How Korea‘s two largest beauty giants swapped places during pandemic

For several decades, South Korea’s cosmetics industry has been dominated by two major players -- Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care, together accounting for over 60 percent of the market as of end-2019. As the LG affiliate possessed a more diverse portfolio, also covering daily necessities such as toothpaste and detergent, beauty-dedicated powerhouse Amorepacific had an upper hand over its rival in the cosmetics sector. But this is no longer the case, as runner-up LG has at

Feb. 11, 2021

Cafe24 to hosts webinar on global sales strategy for social media

E-commerce platform Cafe24 will host a webinar on global sales strategy for Facebook and Instagram next week, the company said on Wednesday. The platform said the event will provide viewers with strategic help in reaching over three billion online users on Facebook-owned apps using Facebook Shops. Dubbed “Facebook‘s Global Commerce Success Strategies Using Shops,” the occasion is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17, and will be offered for free to those who sign up

Feb. 10, 2021

Emart 2020 net profit up 62% on one-off revenues

  Emart Inc., South Korea's largest discount store chain by sales, on Tuesday reported a 62 percent on-year jump in net profit last year due to increased one-off revenues. Net profit for the whole of 2020 came to 362.5 billion won ($324.8 million), up from 223.8 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Emart said its sale of a 39,050-square-meter plot of land in western Seoul last year buoyed the bottom line. Emart sold the plot of land for 800 billion won in

Feb. 9, 2021

Craft beer association and brewers call on government to allow online beer sales

The Korea Craft Brewers Association and dozens of brewers have called on the government to allow online beer sales to help offset the blow from the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement on Monday, the group said sales of craft beer drastically dropped last year as main sales channels such as restaurants and pubs were forced to close due to social distancing rules. “Sales dropped by half at the minimum and up to 90 percent in worse cases, forcing staff to take a leave of absence or busines

Feb. 8, 2021

WeMakePrice names new CEO and vows investment in technology

Online e-commerce company WeMakePrice named its former vice president as the new CEO in an announcement Monday. Ha Song, who had been the acting CEO since last August after former CEO Park Eun-sang took a leave of absence for health reasons, will now lead the company. “We plan to strengthen our industry-leading curation service and invest in technology advancement in order to become a competitive platform strictly from the users’ perspective. Ha joined the company in 2015 and has

Feb. 8, 2021

K-beauty gains ground despite pandemic as Korea’s cosmetics exports rise 16%

In a positive sign for the Korean beauty industry, South Korea’s cosmetics exports enjoyed a 16.1 percent year-on-year increase last year despite the coronavirus pandemic. Korea’s total cosmetics exports reached $7.57 billion in 2020, the latest data from the Korea Customs Service and the Korea Cosmetic Association revealed on Sunday. The country’s cosmetics exports had enjoyed double-digit growth rates every year since 2012 until the figure dipped to 4.2 percent in 2019. W

Feb. 7, 2021

Shinsegae Department Store logs best Lunar New Year gift sales

Shinsegae Department Store said on Sunday that gifts for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday have logged the company‘s best-ever sales this year, boasting a 51.3 percent year-on-year increase. The figure shows sales generated from Seollal gifts between Jan. 4 and Feb 5. The department store said the jump in sales reflects the growing demand for premium gifts this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic as well as the country’s decision to loosen its anti-bribery rules that cap

Feb. 7, 2021

[Feature] Why celebrity beauty brands are good business

Launching a beauty brand has become easier than ever, thanks to the growing market and original design manufacturers. And for celebrities who want to capitalize on their fame and branch out into the cosmetics industry, this has been good news. International celebrities including Kylie Jenner and Rihanna have successfully launched their own brands Kylie Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty in recent years while South Korean makeup artist and vlogger Pony – who has over seven million followers on Ins

Feb. 7, 2021

Jamon becomes most popular emerging food on delivery app Yogiyo

Jamon, a dry-cured ham produced in Spain, was named the fastest emerging item on food delivery app Yogiyo last year, thanks largely to the popularity of wine amid the pandemic. The Spanish ham saw a 515 percent year-on-year jump in order volume, enjoying the biggest growth apart from already-beloved items such as fried chicken, pizza and Chinese food, Delivery Hero Korea, the company behind the app, said Thursday. “It appears record-breaking wine sales that caused an increase in home dri

Feb. 4, 2021

Nongshim’s Chapaghetti most hashtagged local instant noodles on Instagram

Nongshim’s Chapaghetti stands out among all local instant noodle brands as one of the most popular, with the greatest number of Instagram posts using its name as a hashtag, the food company said Tuesday. According to Nongshim, the hashtag bearing the name of the popular black bean instant noodles had been attached to about 219,000 posts written in Korean as of Monday. The runner-up was Buldak Spicy Chicken noodles from Samyang Foods, which had 195,000 posts featuring its name as a hash

Feb. 2, 2021

Delivery app Yogiyo in legal battle over price guarantee policy

Delivery Hero Korea, the Germany-based company behind major food delivery app Yogiyo, is facing a court battle ahead of the planned sale of its stake in the app. South Korean prosecutors last week indicted DH Korea under the country’s monopoly regulation and fair trade act, accusing it of having coerced restaurants to offer lower prices on the Yogiyo platform than on competing platforms, according to the legal circle on Monday. It is alleged that between July 2013 and December 2016 the

Feb. 2, 2021

Duty-free sales dip 38% in 2020 on coronavirus

Sales at South Korean duty-free stores plunged nearly 38 percent on-year in 2020 due to the spread of the new coronavirus, industry data showed Monday. Combined sales of local duty-free shops totaled 15.5 trillion won ($13.9 billion) last year, down 37.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Duty Free Shops Association. Foreign shoppers accounted for 94 percent of the sales figure as the coronavirus pandemic kept South Koreans from going abroad. The proportion was

Feb. 1, 2021

[Weekender] Inside Korea’s interior design boom amid pandemic

From #OurHome #HomeDecorating to #OnlineHousewarming, Instagram lately is filled with hashtags and posts from users showcasing their homes and stylish interior design ideas. “May I know where you got the bookcase?” one comment read in response to a post showing a well-lit, nearly all-white room. Dambi, an author and blogger, who shared the original post on Instagram replied that it was from furniture company Basic Gagu. These types of interactions are fairly common in the online sp

Jan. 30, 2021

[Newsmaker] Ikea labor conflict deepens over ‘discriminatory’ treatment of local staff

Ikea Korea, the local subsidiary of the Swedish furniture brand, is facing an escalating internal conflict as its labor union has gone on another round of strikes, accusing the company of discriminatory treatment. The Ikea Korea’s labor union started Tuesday a sit-in protest in front of its Gwangmyeong outlet in Gyeonggi Province for an indefinite period, claiming that the company has failed to deliver its promises to improve the working conditions and avoided answering their main reque

Jan. 28, 2021

Korea Public Health Association teams up with Febreze to launch hygiene campaign

The Korea Public Health Association has teamed up with P&G Korea’s Febreze to launch a public hygiene campaign to keep homes clean. The new campaign is designed to raise awareness of what has been dubbed the “new normal” lifestyle that has emerged in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, putting an emphasis on hygiene at home, the company said. The four-step guidelines touch on sterilization, disinfection, ventilation and humidity and also lays out ways to disinfect item

Jan. 28, 2021

Retail sales up 5.5% in 2020 on online gains amid pandemic

Retail sales in South Korea rose 5.5 percent on-year in 2020 due to strong gains from the online segment in sync with the social distancing policy amid the unprecedented virus pandemic. The combined sales of local online shops shot up 18.4 percent in 2020 from the previous year, while those of offline stores fell 3.6 percent, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Among offline stores, convenience stores were the sole winners, with their sales advancing 2

Jan. 28, 2021

Nonghyup Hongsam reveals Lunar New Year ginseng gift sets

In time for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, Nonghyup Hongsam is holding a buy-one-get-one-free event for its flagship ginseng products, officials said Wednesday. The promotion, which runs until Feb. 17, is for gift sets comprising ginseng extract products and wild ginseng. The company also offers 15 percent discounts on standalone items, including Hansamin Red Ginseng Extract Prime, Red Ginseng Extract stick, and Pure Liquid of Red Ginseng Gold. Hansamin is the company’s ginseng b

Jan. 27, 2021