The Korea Times

CJ launches joint corporation 'CJ Logistics America'

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun / Courtesy of CJ GroupBy Kim Jae-heunCJ Group launched CJ Logistics America, Tuesday, a joint corporation consolidating two of its corporate bodies in America and Canada and merging it with DSC Logistics, which the company acquired in 2018. This is a rare move for a Korean company to combine an acquired American business with a local subsidiary. It is seen as an example of the strong determination of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun, who hopes to lead in logistics not only in Asia but also the world.The joint corporation will unify the manpower, logistics infrastructure and platforms owned by the three former subsidiaries across the United States and Canada. There are a total of 280 square kilometers of warehouse space there along with 70 facilities established for shipping. CJ Logistics Canada will operate under CJ Logistics America as a subsidiary. The CJ Logistics' branches in America and Canada had only been targeting Korean companies there as customers, but the new joint corporation will expand to target global firms. It will also upgrade its logisti

Feb 6, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

CJ launches joint corporation 'CJ Logistics America'

Companies

AmorePacific to expand its ASEAN market in Indonesia

AmorePacific President Bae Dong-hyun, right, shakes hands with MAP Group CEO Virendra Sharma after signing a business partnership at the MAP headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Wednesday. / Courtesy of AmorePacificBy Kim Jae-heunAmorePacific is aiming to reduce its reliance on the Chinese market by reaching out to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.The country's No.1 cosmetics maker signed a business partnership with Indonesia's largest retailer PT Mitra Adiperkasa, Tbk (MAP) to open its in-house brands across the nation.MAP Group owns operating rights for global distribution companies such as SOGO, Galeries Lafayette, Sephora and other popular brands including Starbucks and Zara. It currently operates 2,300 stores in 70 cities in Indonesia, the largest economy in the ASEAN bloc. Since AmorePacific established its Indonesian subsidiary in Jakarta in 2013, it launched four more of its brands Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Mamonde and Innisfree in the capital city. However, the cosmetics firm expects the new business deal with MAP will further branch out to local c

Feb 4, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

AmorePacific to expand its ASEAN market in Indonesia

Companies

Korea's No.1 yoga brand hit by sexual abuse scandal

Founder and CEO of Andar Shin Ae-ryun pose in her brand's advertisement. / Courtesy of AndarBy Kim Jae-heunKorea’s No.1 yoga apparel maker Andar may be struck by a possible customer boycott after its founder and CEO Shin Ae-ryun failed to convince the public with a written apology for a sexual harassment scandal posted on social media last Thursday.The domestic athletic apparel retailer has been embroiled in the scandal where a female employee claimed she was wrongfully dismissed after she accused her superior of sexual harassment. The female employee found a job at Andar last July. She said she had often been forced to have physical contact with male colleagues at work.On Sept. 24, her boss ordered a male colleague to hug her several times during after-work company activity she alleged. The female employee was in the middle of an “on-the-job training period” and she did not want to disobey her superior’s command because it could influence her evaluation in the recruitment process.Three days later, while attending a company workshop, a male employee entered in

Feb 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Companies

E-Land's fashion business in China on coronavirus alert

People shop at E Land's fashion brand Scofield's store in China. / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunE-Land Group's fashion apparel business in China is on alert due to the spread of the new coronavirus after 86 percent of its 317 stores operating in Wuhan decided to close temporarily. The fashion firm owns 4,000 stores across the mainland. As the contagious disease has now killed 213 and infected 9,692 people in China, E-Land Group has formed a taskforce to take emergency action.“Our stores in Wuhan will be closed for a while. Other stores in mainland China will operate according to guidelines given by the Chinese government,” an E-Land Group official said.The 14 percent of E-Land stores still operating in Wuhan shortened their business hours ― opening late and closing early. It has not been confirmed whether the group will cut the business hours of its stores in other areas but they will be vulnerable to local government countermeasures. E-Land officials said the company expects more of its stores to close temporarily as most of them are operating in department stores or s

Feb 1, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

E-Land's fashion business in China on coronavirus alert

Companies

LG Household & Health Care will beat AmorePacific soon in cosmetics sector

A clerk explains a product from LG Household & Health Care's luxury brand “The History of Whoo” to customers at a department store in Shanghai, China, in Jan. 2019. / Courtesy of LG Household & Health CareBy Kim Jae-heunLG Household & Health Care has become a “serious competitor” with AmorePacific as a whopping sales increase of its signature products significantly helped it narrow the gap in sales here.LG's two luxury cosmetics labels ― “The History of Whoo” and “SU:M37” ― were the “right contributors” in helping the LG affiliate continue its bullish run in Chinese sales, according to officials and analysts, Thursday. Right after China's apparent retaliatory measure against South Korea banning Chinese tourist groups from visiting the country in 2016, the LG affiliate made a swift decision to keep its business momentum alive by beginning the sale of its products in Chinese department stores. In the third quarter of 2019, LG Household & Health Care's sales in China increased by 35 percent, year-on-year.A sourc

Jan 30, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

LG Household & Health Care will beat AmorePacific soon in cosmetics sector

Companies

EXCLUSIVE CJ plans to sell Olive Young

By Kim Jae-heunAmid the worsening financial environment, which mainly stem from its aggressive overseas business expansion plans, CJ Group plans to sell its health and beauty drugstore Olive Young, sources directly involved with the issue told The Korea Times, Wednesday.“CJ Group is talking with investors about unloading Olive Young in an effort to streamline the group's business portfolio. The valuation of the deal isn't known, however, CJ is narrowing differences and conditions with investors before finalizing the deal,” one source said asking not to be identified. From a business standpoint, the sale makes sense, according to industry officials, as group liquidity is rapidly drying up after CJ's controversial decision to jump into the overseas cinema business. In March 2016, the group's multiplex affiliate CJ CGV spent 301.9 billion won to acquire 38.12 percent of MARS Entertainment in Turkey. MARS Entertainment was Turkey's No.1 investment and distribution business in the film sector that owns five times more screens than the industry's No.2 Avsar. Its entertainment a

Jan 29, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

[EXCLUSIVE] CJ plans to sell Olive Young

Companies

Retail and distribution industry struck hard by new coronavirus

Customers wearing masks shop at a discount store in Seoul, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe potentially deadly coronavirus crisis is expected to drag on for some time and affect Korea's retail and distribution industry. There had been rumors that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Korea and finally lift the restrictions on Chinese tourists' travel to Seoul.Since 2016, the Chinese government has been restricting group tours to Seoul as an act of economic retaliation following Seoul's decision to deploy an American missile defense system. The Korea Tourism Organization predicted some 130,000 Chinese tourists would visit Korea during the Lunar New Year between Jan. 24 to 30, which is an 18.1 percent increase from the same period last year. In fact, the growth rate of purchases made by Chinese visitors at Shinsegae Department Stores increased by 13.9 percent in November, 23 percent in December and 46.5 percent from January 1 to 16. But the sudden outbreak of the deadly virus that originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan has raised concerns here, which could affect retailers muc

Jan 28, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Retail and distribution industry struck hard by new coronavirus

Korean stocks plunge on coronavirus fears

Companies

'Digital New Deal' imperative for future of Korea

The Korean Productivity Center Chairman Noh Kyoo-sung speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Jongno, Seoul, on Jan. 16. / Courtesy of KPCBy Kim Jae-heunSouth Korea has been witnessing the steady decline of its economic growth rate since the country encountered financial crisis in 1997. The rate has been falling by 1 percentage point every five years to record 5 percent in 2000, 4 percent in 2005 and 3 percent in 2010. In the last decade, the government took defensive measures to keep the rate of economic growth in the 2 percent range and has achieved a national per capita income of over $30,000 in 2018. Korea became the seventh country in the world with a population over 50 million to do so.However, like Japan, Spain and Italy, Korea has failed to find its next growth engine that would at least maintain this rate. Last year, Korea's economic growth marked 2 percent; the lowest in 10 years.But the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) Chairman Noh Kyoo-sung, whose agency trains and consults local firms and the government to encourage improvements in productivity, i

Jan 27, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

'Digital New Deal' imperative for future of Korea

Companies

Cashierless stores arouse labor concerns

Customers shop food at smart convenient store that opened on the Eulji Twin Tower in central Seoul, on Jan. 14. / Courtesy of GS25By Kim Jae-heunWith cashierless convenience stores becoming a trend here, concerns involving the drop in human labor opportunities have surfaced. After America's retail giant Amazon Go opened its very first convenience store without cashiers in Jan. 2018, 25 stores adopting the automatic payment system opened in four states. According to Bloomberg, Amazon said it will increase the number of its smart stores to nearly 3,000 across the nation by 2021. This also led GS Retail to launch the first cashierless convenience store here in Sept. 2018 in Magok, western Seoul. Following this, other local retail giants have opened smart stores adopting hi-tech payment systems.The most prominent example is the GS25 store that opened on the 20th floor of Eulji Twin Tower in Jung-gu, central Seoul, two weeks ago.There are over 34 smart cameras installed in the store with some 300 weight sensors that all connect to an artificial intelligence (AI) system, which plays the ca

Jan 27, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Cashierless stores arouse labor concerns

Companies

Doubts arise over construction of K-pop arenas

CJ Group will have the country's first K-pop arena built by 2024 in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of CJ LiveCityBy Kim Jae-heunLocal governments and private firms are scrambling to open the country's very first K-pop arena that can accommodate an audience of over 10,000.But tourism and culture critics are skeptical about the need of such large-scale concert halls and question their profitability. According to the entertainment sector, four auditoriums are set to open within the next two to four years on the outskirts of Seoul, including one in Dobong-gu, northern Seoul, and two in Goyang and Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. Korea's largest integrated resort, Inspire, will be able to seat 15,000 spectators in its new concert arena on Yeongjong Island, Incheon, from this year.Other venues are also being constructed to hold between 11,000 and 20,000 people. “An increasing number of large-scale K-pop concerts will be built here. To date, there has been no arena that can hold a large audience,” said the CEO of CJ LiveCity Kim Cheon-soo, who has invested 1.8 trillion wo

Jan 25, 2020By Kim Jae-heun

Kim Jae-heun

Read more

CJ launches joint corporation 'CJ Logistics America'

AmorePacific to expand its ASEAN market in Indonesia

Korea's No.1 yoga brand hit by sexual abuse scandal

E-Land's fashion business in China on coronavirus alert

LG Household & Health Care will beat AmorePacific soon in cosmetics sector

EXCLUSIVE CJ plans to sell Olive Young

Retail and distribution industry struck hard by new coronavirus

'Digital New Deal' imperative for future of Korea

Cashierless stores arouse labor concerns

Doubts arise over construction of K-pop arenas

Top 5 stories