Korea to begin Grand Sale this month

By Park Jin-hai

Following the Korea Black Friday event last year, Korea is pushing ahead with another nationwide sales event late this month to boost domestic consumption ahead of the Lunar New Year, according to the finance ministry Tuesday.

Unlike last year, however, a total of 2,500 small- and medium-sized companies including traditional markets and home shopping companies will participate in the Korea Grand Sale, which will begin on Jan. 25 and run through Feb. 7 across the nation before the holiday.

Under the government policy, some 2,147 outlets of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives will provide up to a 50 percent discount on their products, higher than last year’s discount of 30 percent. Some 300 traditional markets and online shopping malls will join the event with various sales promotions.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that it will also sell 70 billion won worth of Onnuri gift certificates, a special coupon that can be used at traditional markets at prices and provides a discount of 10 percent to individual consumers until Feb.5.

Together with the sales to public organizations and companies, the government plans to sell 180 billion won worth of the certificates prior to the national holiday, which is a 1.5 times more than last year.

In addition, the government will inject a record high 21.1 trillion won to provide funds for economically stricken small- and medium-sized companies as well. The funds will be used to provide early tax benefits and the temporary postponement of tariffs and value added taxes for small shop owners.

For foreign tourists, the event will take place from Feb. 1 throughout the end of the month at duty-free shops and other retail stores to celebrate the start of the Visit Korea Years 2016-2018.

The ministry said the sales event is aimed at maintaining an uptrend in consumption that was seen in the third quarter of last year.

“We've come up with plans to keep the pace of private consumption alive and revitalize domestic demand as a whole,” the finance ministry said.

Last year, the country hosted such events three times, including the K-Sale Day and Korea Black Friday, which gave a much needed shot in the arm to the local economy.

During the last Korea Grand Sale for foreign visitors in August, domestic stores that took advantage of the discounts reported 2 to 5 percent sales increases, and more than a 20 percent rise in sales for department stores.

The rise in sales helped push up the nation’s growth to a five-year high of 1.2 percent in the third quarter, successfully escaping the sluggish growth stemming from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak.