Demand jumps for fresh food on e-commerce platforms

More major e-commerce platforms are offering new services for grocery shoppers as demand for fresh food in online shopping continues to rise amid the ongoing pandemic, according to industry sources. In September, WeMakePrice announced it would start offering a full refund to shoppers who are dissatisfied with the quality of perishable goods sold on its website. The return rate was nearly zero percent during the trial period of the quality assurance service, one official at the company explain

Oct. 1, 2020

Direct overseas purchases more than double in 5 years: data

South Koreans' direct purchases from overseas online malls more than doubled in the past five years in terms of value, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday.  Rep. Park Hong-geun of the ruling Democratic Party said the number of Koreans' overseas online direct buying jumped to 42.99 million in 2019 from 15.84 million in 2015, citing data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS). The value of foreign direct buying also soared to $3.14 billion from $1.51 billion over the cited period, the data

Sept. 30, 2020

Shake Shack rolls out Gochujang-inspired burger

Shake Shack rolled out a new burger using traditional Korean red pepper paste Gochujang, Monday. The burger chain operated by SPC Group here said it came up with the limited edition item after its culinary director, Mark Rosati, drew inspiration from Korean dishes he had when he was traveling the country. The Gochujang Chicken Shack comes with a sous-vide chicken breast, spicy and sweet Gochujang glaze and sesame seeds, creating a flavor profile similar to the Korean-style seasoned spicy ch

Sept. 28, 2020

CheongKwanJang launches Donginbi ginseng cosmetics on Amazon.com

CheongKwanJang said Monday it had officially launched its premium ginseng cosmetics brand Donginbi on Amazon’s US site. Opening its own brand shop on the world’s biggest ecommerce platform, CheongKwanJang said it will expand its business to target US customers who are interested in K-beauty and oriental medicine cosmetics. The cosmetics brand will offer a total of 20 skin care products via its online shop, including flagship products like the 1899 Single Essence and the 1899 Sig

Sept. 28, 2020

No tomato in burgers? Typhoon damages cause tomato supply shortage

Retailers are suffering from a tomato supply shortage, after farmland was damaged by the record-long summer monsoon season and a number of typhoons that hit the country this summer, according to the food industry on Monday. Local burger chain Lotteria recently posted an announcement on its website and in stores informing customers that it may temporarily stop selling or change ingredients used for burgers that use tomatoes, including the Hanoo Bulgogi Burger, AZ Burger, Wagye Edition II and H

Sept. 28, 2020

Retail giants offer counseling services amid pandemic

Major retail businesses are offering free counseling services in response to a mental health crisis that has emerged in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Online retailer Gmarket announced plans on Wednesday to offer free psychological counseling for front-line medical staff who have helped fight the COVID-19 crisis. A total of 30 applicants will be chosen to get help from nongovernmental health care organizations, as part of the retailer’s crowdfunding project “Touch,

Sept. 23, 2020

Fruity beers enjoy surge in popularity as light drinking catches on

Beers with a fruity taste are gaining ground in South Korea’s alcoholic beverages market, which has been dominated by domestic pale lagers such as Cass and Hite, as more people opt for light drinking with variations in taste, according to the industry. Convenience store chain CU said its sales of beers known for fruity notes, including Kronenbourg 1664, between January and August rose 9 percent compared with the same time last year. General beer sales also went up by 14.2 percent over the

Sept. 22, 2020

Victorinox offers special gift items for Chuseok

For the upcoming Chuseok holidays, Victorinox suggested special gift items that satisfy both in style and quality, including its iconic army knife, swiss-made watch and backpack. Victorinox said its Altmont Professional Fliptop Laptop Backpack is perfect fit for office workers, with its iconic design appropriate in business settings, and with great storage capacity. The flagship product Victorinox Swiss Army Knife will make as a special gift, as it come in different sizes and has a wide rang

Sept. 20, 2020

Consumers spend more on ready-meals, gift sets for Chuseok amid COVID-19

As the majority of Koreans plan to stay at home during the upcoming Chuseok holiday, ready-meals and unique pandemic-related gift sets are selling like hot cakes. Homeplus, a local supermarket chain, said it saw an 83 percent increase in online sales of refrigerated convenient meal products from Sept. 1 to 8, compared to the same period in the previous month. The sales figure is up 159 percent on-year. The retailer said people are buying more ready-meal products that they can conveniently h

Sept. 20, 2020

Starbucks Coffee Korea prepares 2,030 tumblers to celebrate Youth Day

To celebrate the country’s first Youth Day, Starbucks Coffee Korea said it organized an online event to give out 2,030 tumblers to customers from Tuesday to Friday. The Youth Law implemented from August designates every third Saturday in September as Youth Day. The presidential decree has set Youth Day as a public anniversary to encourage and support the youth and also raise awareness on issues related to young people. This year the day falls on Saturday. Jointly with the Prime Minist

Sept. 15, 2020

PRK launches new ad campaign for Jameson

Pernod Ricard Korea unveiled a series of new ads for its Jameson Irish Whiskey on Monday, featuring artists from various fields enjoying a whiskey highball. Each of the three ads features an artist enjoying whiskey in a different setting -- camping, a house party and a pub -- as part of the company’s “Why Jameson Highball?” campaign. The ads are posted on its social media platforms, including Instagram. The participating artists are Jackson Shim, J Black and Adoy. Pernod Ric

Sept. 14, 2020

OB extends payment deadlines to help wholesalers amid pandemic

Oriental Brewery Company led by CEO Ben Verhaert has extended payment deadlines to help wholesalers and small business owners affected by a recent spike in coronavirus cases in Korea. Earlier this month, the largest beer maker in South Korea, which is owned by AB InBev, announced it has allowed alcohol wholesalers across the country to pay for its products at a later date or pay in installments as part of its efforts to ease the burden on businesses that have been battered by stricter social di

Sept. 13, 2020

[Monitor] Over 10,000 restaurants in Seoul go out of business amid pandemic

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of commercial facilities such as restaurants and PC rooms have shut down in Seoul, a survey by the Agency for Traditional Market Administration shared by Real Estate 114 showed. As of the second quarter of this year, the number in commercial districts dropped by 5.4 percent to 370,321 from 391,499 in the first quarter. By type of business, restaurants shut down the most, followed by retailers such as convenience stores and supermarket

Sept. 9, 2020

Orders on food delivery apps break records amid pandemic

The total value of orders placed on food delivery apps in South Korea reached 1.2 trillion won in August, up 28 percent from July and setting a new monthly record, as the government introduced stricter social distancing regulations after COVID-19 cases rose again, according to data released by WiseApp Tuesday. Around 16 million people used the country‘s four biggest delivery apps -- Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo, Baedaltong and Foodfly -- during the month of August, the data showed. Users of Bae

Sept. 8, 2020

Sales of food delivery app hit fresh high amid virus pandemic

South Korean food delivery applications saw their sales hit a fresh high in August as more people refrained from dining out and stayed home amid the stricter social distancing scheme, data showed Tuesday. The combined transactions made through the country's four major food delivery applications came to 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) in August, up 28 percent from a month earlier, according to the industry tracker WiseApp. Sales from the four applications reached a whopping 7.6 trillion won over

Sept. 8, 2020

[News Focus] Will bond between Starbucks and Shinsegae last?

Since the launch of its first store in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks Coffee has grown into an empire, making forays into more than 80 countries to operate some 30,000 stores across the globe. In South Korea, the coffee giant introduced its first store in front of Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 1999 in partnership with Shinsegae Group, a Korean retail conglomerate. Shinsegae initially acquired the operation license from Starbucks, and Shinsegae’s hypermart affiliate Emart and the coffe

Sept. 6, 2020

Rice cooker that cuts glucose level by 51% released

WiniaDimchae on Thursday launched a new electronic rice cooker called DimchaeCook White Rice Sugar Reduction 50 Retro that can cut down the glucose level in white rice by 51 percent. The percentage is based on plain white rice, but whatever grain that goes in to this rice cooker comes out in a form that all weight-watchers will love, according to WiniaDimchae. WiniaDimchae launched a similar cooker called DimchaeCook White Rice Sugar Reduction 30 in November 2019, that could reduce the glucose

Sept. 3, 2020

Olive Young to go public in 2022

Health and beauty store Olive Young said Thursday it was preparing to apply for an initial public offering in 2022. CEO Koo Chang-gun announced the decision on the company’s in-house communication app “Olive Lounge” on Wednesday where he said work to file for an IPO in 2022 would start next year, with plans to attract pre-IPO investment. “It is to secure assets to support the company’s future growth. But there won’t be any change to majority shareholder CJ

Sept. 3, 2020

WeMakePrice to allow full refund on perishable goods

E-commerce firm WeMakePrice said Wednesday that grocery shoppers can now receive a full refund for perishable goods if the products are not up to their standards. The new initiative comes after the online retailer trialed a similar service last month for meat products and nuts, which the company says was met with a warm reception. Dissatisfied shoppers can now order meat, vegetables, fruits and seafood products that are quality assurance approved and request a full refund until the following

Sept. 2, 2020

[Photo News] OB launches anti-drunk driving campaign

DRINK RESPONSIBLY -- Oriental Brewery CEO Ben Verhaert, who also goes by the Korean name Bae Ha-jun, attends an event to launch a campaign against drunk driving at a driver’s test site in southern Seoul, Wednesday.  OB has teamed up with the Road Traffic Authority for the campaign.

Sept. 2, 2020