'Korean Black Friday' lures customers
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Shoppers flock to a department store in Seoul ahead of Christmas last year. / Korea Times file
By Park Ji-won
A group of Korean online stores have decided to launch what they are calling “Korean Black Friday” on Dec. 12 in hopes of capturing some of the Christmas shopping frenzy that marks “Black Friday” in the U.S., the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday there.
Nine online stores ― 11ST, Lotte.com, elLotte, AK Mall, HyundaiHmall, CJ Mall, Galleria Mall, Himart and Lotte super ― plan to participate in the event by separately holding large sales promotions at their online outlets, offering as much as 50 percent discounts on some products.
The Korean online stores will target customers who are not used to direct buying from overseas stores, officials at 11ST, SK Planet’s online shopping unit, said.
“Korean retailers joined together to organize the event to provide reasonable products and services to Korean customers who have difficulty in buying products from overseas retail channels,” 11st said in a statement.
The move is part of 11ST’s move to boost sales on the sidelines of the U.S. Black Friday event.
“11ST first contacted us to join the event to boost sales in online stores,” said an official who works for one of the nine stores.
Last year, 11st started a “Korean Black Friday” and experienced unexpected success with 3 million visitors to its website and triple the sales of its imported goods for that single day. It was held on Dec. 13, after U.S. online shops conducted similar large sales.
Market insiders said the move is part of an effort by the online retailers to find a breakthrough amid the increasing presence of overseas online shops following the popularity of direct buying in Korea.
“Korean online retailers are trying to establish competitiveness amid the rising popularity of overseas online retailers, which could be a large threat to local firms,” said an official from one of the nine companies.
However, the nation’s two leading online shops, Gmarket and auction.co.kr, run by eBay Korea said they will not participate in the event.
According to the Korea Customs Service, by October of this year, products worth 1.35 trillion won were brought to Korea through direct buying from overseas countries. Direct buying is expected to top 2 trillion won in total by the end of the year.