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CJ Olive Young eyeing Southeast Asia through Shopee

Women hold shopping bags containing top-selling products of last year and products expected to sell well this year at an Olive Young store in Seoul, Nov. 23. / Courtesy of CJ Olive YoungBy Kim Jae-heunCJ Olive Young, the country's largest health and beauty product store, opened an online shop on Southeast Asia's biggest e-commerce platform Shopee, Tuesday, as part of its global expansion plans.“From now on, Olive Young will actively seize opportunities in the global market to grow and lead the globalization of Korean cosmetics,” a CJ Olive Young official said. Shopee is a subsidiary of Sea Group, which sells various products from daily necessities to cosmetics and electronic goods online. It is referred to as the Amazon of Southeast Asia, as it focuses on Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Last year, the number of accumulated mobile application downloads of the Shopee platform surpassed 200 million.In 2020, Olive Young also signed a memorandum of understanding with Dairy Farm to launch several of its products in Guardian stores, a drug

Jan 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
CJ Olive Young eyeing Southeast Asia through Shopee
Tech & Science

Naver to target global market with webtoons and live broadcasting

Founder of Naver Lee Hae-jin gives speech during the press conference at Naver's data center in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, in July 2020. / Courtesy of NaverBy Kim Jae-heunLocal information technology (IT) giant Naver is more than ready to make its presence in the global scene felt with its ever popular content business.The company said it will make every effort to bring about service innovation and technology development in 2021 based on four key ideas: global, technology, SME (small- and medium- enterprise) and creation. Naver has been targeting the global market since its establishment in 1999 and its plan to become a world-class platform operator looks more feasible this year.Its webtoon business in the United States is preparing to go public there soon. However, its live broadcasting platform “V Live” is likely to lead Naver's entry in the global scene. Thanks to the rising popularity of K-pop, more than 100 million people have downloaded the V Live smartphone application as of Dec. 28, last year. V Live provides a live video streaming service mainly for K-pop acts.

Jan 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Naver to target global market with webtoons and live broadcasting
Companies

Coupang Eats to implement new rider management policy

A delivery worker zips by on a scooter in Seoul on Nov. 4, 2020. / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunThe country's largest online retailer Coupang has provided new protective measures for drivers of its food delivery service Coupang Eats. Up until now, responsibility for accidents or problems that occurred while making deliveries fell squarely to the delivery riders.But Coupang Eats became the first player in the local market to share the burden and help riders that become embroiled in civil or criminal cases in the course of carrying out their work. Coupang will also cover payments to riders if either a customer or restaurant owner cancels an order in the middle of delivery.The new policy is likely to increase the popularity of Coupang Eats over its competitors. Other players like Woowa Brothers' Baedal Minjok and Delivery Hero's Yogiyo still place most of the burden on their riders when accidents and cancellations occurs. This is possible because delivery people are hired as temporary workers and as such are not automatically covered under occupational health and safety insurance that

Jan 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Coupang Eats to implement new rider management policy
Companies

Lotte, LF trying 'online for offline' strategy

LF Mall in Gwangju's Sangmu district / Courtesy of LFBy Kim Jae-heunLocal fashion firms are pursuing “online for offline” (O4O) strategies appealing to consumers who want to try on clothes before making online purchases.The O4O strategy aims to combine fashion companies' online and offline businesses to utilize the strengths of the two amid the rising contactless consumer trend.Fashion firms collect data on customers online and use it to attract them to stores with new technologies and services. This helps them offer a tailored shopping environment to customers and increase their revenue in the end, said analysts and officials. Global companies have been working on digitizing their offline bases over the last four years. The retail giant Amazon already opened an unmanned Amazon Go convenience store in Seattle in December 2016. Customers there don't need to wait in line and their app will pay the price automatically once they leave the store. In Korea, LF introduced its O4O store in last October. It turned 20 outlets into O4O special stores recently, where customers can pu

Jan 1, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Lotte, LF trying 'online for offline' strategy
Companies

KTFC orders OTT services to notify customers before end of free trials

Netflix logo / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe country's top antitrust watchdog ordered over-the-top (OTT) services here to inform customers in advance when their free trial ends and turns into paid membership.The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) held a meeting of the Consumer Policy Committee last week and specifically mentioned Netflix to indicate that the American online video streaming service, along with other local players, should not begin to charge customers membership fees without prior notification. Netflix currently offers a one-month free trial of its service to Korean audiences, but requires a personal payment method to complete registration which will be automatically charged a minimum 9,500 won to 14,500 won depending on the membership type when the trial expires and the next month billing cycle commences.The committee is a pan-government control tower handling consumer policy issues and it is composed of representatives from eight relevant authorities including the KFTC and civic group. It recommends improvements for consumer-related systems while establishing and coordina

Jan 1, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
KTFC orders OTT services to notify customers before end of free trials
Companies

Lotte to close fashion mall in Dongdaemun

China's First Lady Peng Liyuan visits Lotte FITIN in Dongdaemun, Seoul, in this 2014 file photo. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunLotte Asset Development will close its shopping center Lotte FITIN Dec. 31, due to the fashion business slump in the area and the COVID-19 pandemic. Lotte's real estate firm has been operating the mall for seven years and it once was one of the most popular stores for foreign tourists, with over 50 percent of its sales coming from foreigners.“Due to the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of clothing brands in the mall are currently leaving. We've decided that it is better to close down the building because of the lack of operational efficiency,” a Lotte Asset Development official said. “However, we have some time left until the contract expires and we are discussing the future of this mall.”Lotte opened Lotte FITIN in May 2013 to offer experiences relating to hallyu, or the Korean wave, in Dongdaemun Market, which received many international tourists. Chinese, in particular, accounted for 80 percent of foreign visit

Dec 30, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Lotte to close fashion mall in Dongdaemun
Companies

Coupang and Naver named as strong candidates to acquire Yogiyo

Scooters of Delivery Hero's food delivery business Yogiyo are parked in front of a restaurant in Seoul on June 2. / Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunCoupang and Naver have emerged as strong candidates to take over Yogiyo, the country's No. 2 food delivery player, after the top antitrust watchdog ordered Delivery Hero to sell the delivery service.The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said last month that it will only recognize the merger between Delivery Hero and Woowa Brothers, the operator of No.1 food delivery service Baedal Minjok (Baemin), if the former sells Yogiyo. Yogiyo accounts for 18 percent of the local market share and is considered an attractive acquisition for Coupang, according to industry officials. Coupang currently runs its own food delivery service, Coupang Eats, which comprises a 3.1-percent market share to rank third-largest. Yogiyo has an estimated market value of 2 trillion won, excluding control premium. Considering the estimated acquisition price, Coupang, Naver and Kakao have been mentioned to private equity funds (PEFs) as potentially viable candidates for a

Dec 29, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Coupang and Naver named as strong candidates to acquire Yogiyo
Companies

Retail market restrained by gov't regulations

Shinsegae's logistics center in Gyeonggi Province / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunContactless consumption has become the “new normal” here thanks to the fast growing e-commerce sector that contributes to the expansion of the entire retail market. Total retail sales were less than 200 trillion won up until 2010, but have nearly doubled as they are expected to reach 387 trillion won next yearNewcomers such as Coupang and Market Kurly drove the growth with their strength as e-commerce firms and with their overnight delivery service. The local e-commerce market only stood at 45 trillion won in 2014. However it has been showing double-digit growth annually and recorded an all-time high of 160.6 trillion won this year. Next year, the local e-commerce market size is expected to reach 188 trillion won, up 17 percent from this year, and its share in the overall retail market will rise to 48 percent. Considering that e-commerce takes only 14 percent of the global retail market, this is exceptionally high. This has put the Korean e-commerce market in the fifth position on the globa

Dec 29, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Retail market restrained by gov't regulations
Tech & Science

Foster mother receives LG award for 26 years of community service

Jun Ok-rye, right, plays with a baby she is fostering with her husband Yoo Sung-ki at their home in Seodaemun District, Seoul, Sunday. / Courtesy of LG Welfare FoundationBy Kim Jae-heunA 74-year-old foster mother Jun Ok-rye received the LG Humanitarian Award for caring for 119 infants over a period of 36 years, the LG Welfare Foundation announced Sunday. Jun is the oldest foster mother among 350 in the country.Foster mothers in Korea typically take care of orphans under 36 months old at home before they are adopted. After moving to Seodaemun District in Seoul in 1984, Jun learned about fostering opportunities and has volunteered her services ever since. It is normal for foster mothers to take breaks between foster babies but Jun has been restless in her efforts to help the community. Jun is a mother of two sons herself and it was not easy to take care of foster babies while raising her own children. It was physically a demanding job to care for babies that cannot walk and she was barely able to sleep when they cried at night. “Every time I send babies away, I cry so much that I

Dec 28, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Foster mother receives LG award for 26 years of community service
Tech & Science

FTC reviews Google's new commission policy

Google headquarters in California / Korea time fileBy Kim Jae-heunThe Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is speeding up its examination of Google's new policy to increase its commission for application transactions to 30 percent.The country's top antitrust watchdog is conducting a survey of local game-makers, online music streamers and webtoon platform operators that have launched their app service through Google's Play Store.The survey aims to study the effect of the increased commission that the information technology giant plans to forcibly adopt here next October. All the paid-for content provided by game-makers such as Nexon and Netmarble, and online music streaming from Melon must be bought from the Play Store. There has been a prediction that if Google starts taking a 30 commission, sales of local app developers will decrease and service fees will increase. Prof. Yoo Byung-joon at the Business School of Seoul National University estimated there will be a 2.11 trillion won fall in sales from the raised commission during an open forum held by the Korea Internet Corporations Associatio

Dec 28, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
FTC reviews Google's new commission policy
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