The latest photo of a giant panda cub since its birth a month ago, July 22. The panda was the first to be born in Korea after natural mating. The baby panda weighed 1 kilogram as of Sunday after weighing 197 grams at birth. Courtesy of Samsung C&T Corporation
CJ Foodville's steakhouse brand VIP in Mapo-gu, Seoul. / Courtesy of CJ FoodvilleBy Kim Jae-heunRestaurant chains have expressed dissatisfaction over the government's alleged “discriminatory countermeasures” to fight the resurgence of COVID-19.After another massive outbreak with 2,629 confirmed cases in the last 10 days, the administration tightened quarantine measures, close buffet and family-style restaurants. CJ Foodville temporarily shut 29 branches of its steak restaurant chain VIPS, and 12 branches of its Seasons Table Korean restaurants, in the capital and surrounding areas last Wednesday. Shinsegae Food closed three Bono Bono seafood eateries and two outlets of its Korean-style buffet chain Olbaan in the same area. Elandeats also stopped operating 109 branches of its buffet restaurants as they were designated as “high-risk facilities” by the government under the readopted stricter social distancing guidelines. For now, they will reopen on Sept. 1; however, if the situation gets worse, the closure period may be extended indefinitely. The restaurant chai
People wait in line to purchase Chanel products before a price increase, in front of Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong, Seoul, May 14. / Korea Times photo by Lee Han-hoBy Kim Jae-heunAmid concerns growing over a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea, French luxury watch and jewelry brand Cartier said it will raise the price of all its products here starting Sept. 1. According to a luxury industry source, Cartier's prices for watches and jewelry are expected to increase by 2 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.The decision is receiving criticism as the increases are taking place amid a prolonged worldwide economic slump. Due to tourism restrictions between countries, the number of travelers to Europe has decreased, leading to nosediving sales of luxury brands. Critics say Cartier and other fashion houses such as Chanel are frequently raising their prices to make up for poor business performances in their homelands. Chanel increased its price for several leather goods including the Boy Chanel card holder earlier this month. This came as a surprise to many customers as it
Binggrae headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of BinggraeBy Kim Jae-heunAngered young customers are rising against Binggrae in online communities demanding the company break business ties with Namyang Dairy Products.Binggrae is currently outsourcing its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) for milk products in the nation's southeastern Gyeongsang provinces to Namyang Dairy Products. However, because the dairy manufacturer has been embroiled in unsavory incidents, young customers are demanding Binggrae join the boycott of its business partner. In 2013, Namyang Dairy was found to have abused its power against suppliers, forcing its dealership stores to purchase products that are unpopular or close to the expiration date. Last month, the Seoul Jongno Police Station summoned Namyang Dairy Chairman Hong Won-sik for questioning over the case, in which the dairy firm allegedly paid professional trolls to disparage a rival company online in 2019.Binggrae reacted instantly by revealing its plans to change its business partner for manufacturing dairy products in the region or building an additio
Kakao Talk introduces Chanel perfume in its e-commerce category in July. / Courtesy of Kakao CommerceBy Kim Jae-heunIt didn't take too long for Chanel to set aside its own policy and join others to sell cosmetics online. Industry insiders expressed expectations that makeup items would be least affected by the rapid increase in people shopping online because consumers have to test cosmetic products in person. But COVID-19 has made it almost imperative for the French fashion house to introduce its beauty products on Kakao Talk, where luxury brand sales have nearly doubled in the first half of this year compared to 2019. Since last month, Chanel has been selling 22 cosmetic products including lipsticks, perfumes and hand creams. It is the first time for Chanel to start selling products on any online retail platform apart from its official website. One of the benefits of selling through Kakao Talk is that the messenger application is used by 93 percent of smartphone users in Korea. Starting in August last year, it has been selling beauty products of 66 luxury brands including Dior, Yves
By Kim Jae-heunThe Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) imposed fines on seven firms in the food and beverage, apparel and mobile carrier sectors for avoiding delivery of written contracts with their dealership stores. The antitrust watchdog launched an investigation to check if the companies are properly fulfilling their obligation to adopt contract standards. This is part of the government's efforts to establish a culture promoting fair contracts. Suppliers have been avoiding the use of standard contracts set by the KFTC or even failing to sign them, enabling suppliers to use their superior position to bend the market to their favor. The result showed Hyungji, SK Telecom and KT have failed to use updated contract forms that have been revised in June. Binggrae, Descente Korea, K2 and Hyungji did not implement an electronic contract system and still used written contracts. Seven firms including Ottogi, LG Uplus and KT adopted electronic contract systems but their usage rate varied from 20 percent to 100 percent. Some firms failed to deliver contracts, delayed them or left out important
Shinsegae Department Store in Gangnam, Seoul / Courtesy of Shinsegae GroupBy Kim Jae-heunCOVID-19 has struck the local retail market hard, resulting in the worst-ever business performance for all top three players. Department stores of Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai are applying different countermeasures to overcome the global economic crisis. Shinsegae reported an operating loss of 43.1 billion won ($36.37 million) in the second quarter this year. This is the first time the department store operator has reported losses since separating from E-mart in 2011.Lotte Shopping and Hyundai Department Store generated operating profits of 1.4 billion won and 8.1 billion won, respectively, falling over 80 percent compared to the numbers in last year's second quarter. All three players made profits close to 100 billion won between April and June last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought it down starting in January. Sales coming from various sectors, including the main business of department and discount stores as well as duty free shops fell drastically. Shinsegae and Hyundai's department stor
Galleria Department Store in Gwanggyo, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Galleria Department StoreBy Kim Jae-heunMajor department store franchises here are refurbishing their branches nationwide, centered around strengthening the luxury sector as clear evidence shows that an increasing number of young customers are becoming more inclined to purchase high-end fashion products. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the sales of Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai department stores in the first half of the year fell by 14.2 percent compared to last year. Sales of casual men's and women's brands decreased by 23 percent and 34.9 percent, respectively. However, luxury brands have seen a 9.2 percent of increase in sales.Galleria Department Store, which has comparatively more international high-end fashion labels at its branches than its competitors, was the only franchise that showed a sales increase between January and June, recording 4 percent. Lotte recorded a 16 percent sales drop, followed by Hyundai and Shinsegae with a respective 10 percent and 7 percent. Galleria only oper
Starbucks store in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Starbucks KoreaBy Kim Jae-heunStarbucks Korea reopened its drive-thru store in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday ― a day after the shop closed following a customer there later testing positive for COVID-19.The company said a man came to the store, about 10 kilometers east of Seoul, Sunday, with his family and stayed there for about 40 minutes. The quarantine authorities determined that nobody else was in close enough contact with him to possibly get infected by the virus. There were two other people in the coffee shop that quarantine officials thought could have come into contact with him, but they sat three tables away so their chances of being infected were very small. “The man, as well as his family, all wore face masks and they did not contact anybody at the Starbucks store,” an investigator at Yangpyeong County Office said. On the day the patient visited Yangpyeong store, Starbucks strictly followed the government's guideline to have all customers wear face masks consistently and use hand sanitizer
By Kim Jae-heunFormer Lotte Corporation Vice Chairman Hwang Kag-gyuLotte Corporation Vice Chairman Hwang Kag-gyu, also known as the right-hand man of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, resigned abruptly on Thursday. Hwang earned his position as Lotte Group's second-in-command after leading several successful merger and acquisition deals including with KT Rental and Samsung's chemistry firms. His abdication is seen as an aberration as it is not the regular appointment season at Lotte and Hwang has been a close ally of Shin for quite a long time.However, some industry insiders suspect that Hwang's position was being challenged by his colleague Song Yong-dok, as he competed for the same vice chairman title last December. Recently, Lotte Corporation has been struggling in its chemical and retail businesses and Shin is pushing ahead with a plan to bring about a new working environment in the company while strengthening investment in e-commerce.“Shin is trying to use Hwang's resignation as an opportunity to change the whole corporate system,” an industry source said. Lotte Cor