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Concern grows over Chung Yong-jin's love for social media activity

Vice Chairman of Shinsegae Group Chung Yong-jin shops at E-Mart's Wolgye branch in northern Seoul, on July 19. / Screen captured from Chung Yong-jin's InstagramBy Kim Jae-heunUnlike many scions of the country's leading conglomerates who are reluctant to make public appearances or to share their daily life with the outside world, Shinsegae Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin loves posting pictures of himself on social media.As of July 11, his Instagram account has over 396,000 followers. The vice chairman mainly shares photos of food he eats and places he visits but some are linked to the businesses he develops. His posting of a newly-opened Starbucks drive-thru coffee shop in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, when he visited the place on July 26, had a positive advertising effect in terms of highlighting the details of the new Starbucks store and how cozy it is. Starbucks Korea is a joint venture between E-Mart, Shinsegae's discount store subsidiary, and Starbucks Coffee International, with each possessing 50 percent of shares here. Chung also made a surprise visit to E-Mart's branch in Wolgye

Aug 11, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Concern grows over Chung Yong-jin's love for social media activity
Companies

FTC unlikely to punish Starbucks for reward item shortage

Starbucks' summer ready bag and summer chair / Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunStarbucks Korea is unlikely to be sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) for allegedly committing a “fraudulent act” against its customers. At a meeting of the National Assembly State Affairs Committee two weeks ago, ruling Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Min Hyung-bae said the American coffeehouse chain violated the Fair Trade Act with its “summer ready bag” promotional event.Starbucks Korea offered customers who purchased 17 drinks, including seasonal beverages, one of five options ― two types of summer ready bags and three types of summer chairs.The reward items gained unexpected popularity among customers with the summer ready bags in particular causing a craze here that led people to wait in front of Starbucks coffee shops every morning to check the inventory. According to the lawmaker, Starbucks Korea “lured” customers with the reward items but failed to prepare a sufficient inventory. As a result, a lot of people purchasing beverages never received the

Aug 10, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
FTC unlikely to punish Starbucks for reward item shortage
Companies

Coupang COVID-19 case recognized as industrial accident

A Coupang worker is tested for COVID-19 at the online retailer's logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, May 27. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (COMWEL) has recognized the case of a 40-something Coupang employee surnamed Jeon ― who was infected with COVID-19 at the online retailer's logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province ― as an industrial accident, according to a group of victims there, Monday.On May 23, the very first COVID-19 infection was detected at Coupang's logistics center, through which it eventually spread to 152 people. About 30 of them were Coupang workers and the rest were their family members or friends.Only Jeon's case has been recognized so far and the remaining 29 cases of Coupang employees are still under review. Friends and family members cannot receive compensation from the industrial accident insurance. The Coupang workers who fell victim to COVID-19 at Bucheon Logistics Center urged the online retailer to compensate their family members for secondary damage. However, Coupang said it has no plans to do

Aug 10, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Coupang COVID-19 case recognized as industrial accident
Companies

POSCO International, RDA to support Myanmar rice industry

Posco International CEO Joo Si-bo, left, poses with Rural Development Administration Administrator Kim Kyeong-kyu during an MOU signing ceremony for support of Myanmar's farming market at POSCO Group's Seoul office, Wednesday. / Courtesy of POSCO International.By Kim Jae-heunPOSCO International said Wedneday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in an effort to improve the value chain of Myanmar's rice industry.RDA Administrator Kim Kyeong-kyu and POSCO International CEO Joo Si-bo met at POSCO Group's office in central Seoul to participate in the signing ceremony.Through this deal, the two entities plan to establish a public-private cooperative relationship where the RDA will share its skills in rice production technology with Myanmar farms to produce quality raw materials while POSCO International will be in charge of processing and distributing raw local rice. They also promised to train local farmers on cultivation techniques and post-harvest management. Post-evaluation will also be given to help them improve their rice quality. Th

Aug 5, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
POSCO International, RDA to support Myanmar rice industry
Companies

Galleria sees growth despite pandemic

Galleria Department Store in Seoul's affluent Apgujeong-dong / Courtesy of Hanwha GalleriaBy Kim Jae-heunGalleria Department Store, operated by Hanwha Galleria, saw sales growth of 4 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year. The result is particularly notable as the outlook on department stores has been negative due to the pandemic. Analysts say the company has handled the crisis well to withdraw sluggish businesses including its duty free shops, while struggling to improve its business structure and adopt premium specialized strategies. Galleria Department Store took good care of super-rich customers with its distinguished VIP program and successfully opened a new branch in February in Gwanggyo in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Strong sales coming from the luxury goods sector also helped the department store brand to put up a good defense. Despite its disadvantage coming from a comparatively smaller business scale to that of its competitors, it adopted the same strategy as Britain's Selfridges to survive in the market. Although Selfridges owns only four stores around the metro

Aug 5, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Galleria sees growth despite pandemic
Companies

Woowa Brothers to improve company's reputation

Baedal Minjok logo / Courtesy of Woowa BrothersBy Kim Jae-heunWoowa Brothers, operator of the country's top food delivery player Baedal Minjok (Baemin), said Monday it has established a partnership coordination department under direct control of CEO Kim Beom-joon and scouted a new vice president, Kwon Yong-kyu, to lead the team.The company hopes such efforts can boost its image by strengthening its communication with business partners including local autonomous entities, subcontractors and small business owners.Since it introduced a new fee system that sparked strong opposition from restaurant owners in April, public sentiment has drastically turned against the platform operator. Despite withdrawing its updated rate-pricing guideline, Woowa Brothers has remained embroiled in several scandals with allegations that it abused its power to force subcontractors and restaurant owners to offer consumers better prices than they do on other delivery platforms.Currently, a 4 trillion-won merger and acquisition deal between Delivery Hero and Woowa Brothers is under review for approval by the Ko

Aug 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Woowa Brothers to improve company's reputation
Companies

Scions destined not to use company money for luxurious cars

The National Tax Service in Sejong City. / Korea Times file By Kim Jae-heunChildren from wealthy families will no longer be able to drive luxury cars purchased by their parent's corporations as company vehicles. Rep. Lee Hyung-seok of ruling Democratic Party of Korea has proposed a revised bill to prevent the personal use of sports cars purchased with company money.The proposed revision includes obligating firms to submit documentary evidence that company cars are being used for business purposes only. If needed, the National Tax Service will carry out random site checks.According data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), Friday, of 128,236 imported sedans sold between January and June this year, 48,041 cars (37.4 percent) were purchased by companies.Italian carmaker Lamborghini had the highest portion of sales of its supercars to companies compared to individual customers ― of the 136 sold in the first half of the year 125 (91.9 percent) were registered as company cars.German brand Porsche sold 2,812 (64.3 percent) out of 4,373 sports cars

Aug 2, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Scions destined not to use company money for luxurious cars
Companies

Chanel shuns global sustainability trend

Fashion models strut the catwalk during the 2018/19 Chanel Cruise Collection at Grand Palais in Paris in this 2018 file photo. / EPA-YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe global trend in the luxury goods industry today is to reuse, recycle and regenerate fashion.Many luxury brands have already taken action to save the Earth but Chanel is still falling behind when it comes to the eco-friendly movement.In 2018, the French fashion house was criticized by environmental activists for cutting down over-century-old trees to create a winter atmosphere at the Chanel Cruise Collection held at Grand Palais, Paris, in March 2018. In the same year, Chanel announced it would stop producing fur products and using leather made from endangered animals while promising to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent through use of renewable electricity by 2030.However, it is unresponsive to joining the trend of using eco-friendly materials in its fashion.Chanel Korea did not provide any information about a campaign relevant to the matter.U.K. luxury brand Burberry has said production by all of its fashion items would use sus

Aug 1, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Chanel shuns global sustainability trend
Companies

Woowa Brothers, Delivery Hero fear emerging competition

Baedal Minjok's delivery person rides on scooters to deliver food on June 22. / Korea times file By Kim Jae-heunCoupang Eats is a hot potato in the food delivery service market now. Backed by massive capital from SoftBank Vision Fund, Coupang has made aggressive investments in its delivery platform business, inducing a cutthroat competition with its rivals ― Yogiyo of Delivery Hero and Baedal Minjok (Baemin) of Woowa Brothers.Since its business launch in May last year, Coupang Eats has been offering various promotions to recruit delivery drivers. However, there is a limited number of drivers in the employment market and it had to steal those who worked for Yogiyo or Baemin.It set no fixed price for delivery fees and has been paying three to four times higher labor costs on the basis of travel distance, weather condition and delivery location. “There is no fixed price we pay to delivery drivers. Our payment system works completely dependent on the needs and supply of

Aug 1, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Woowa Brothers, Delivery Hero fear emerging competition
Tech & Science

AI characters to replace human celebrities in future marketing

Lil Miquela / Screen captured from Lil Miquela's InstagramBy Kim Jae-heunIn 1997, a “virtual” character named Adam appeared on the local marketing scene. He gained considerable popularity for his singing and modeling abilities but it didn't last too long. Graphic designers had to spend night after night just to get Adam to say one word. The science has improved greatly over the last 23 years and it has become much easier to create an imaginary person that can speak and move naturally by using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.This has led various global companies to use fictional characters as marketing models, replacing human celebrities such as TV personalities, YouTubers or social media influencers.A 19-year-old Latin American girl named “Lil Miquela” is one example that has gone viral on the American marketing scene. She has an Instagram account with 2.55 million followers and often posts selfies she has taken with celebrities, and collaborative work with global fashion houses such as Prada, Givenchy and Moncler. Lil Miquela also sings and has releas

Jul 30, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
AI characters to replace human celebrities in future marketing
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