The Korea Times

Competition over premium burger market heats up in Korea

Customers wait in line to enter Busan's first Shake Shack restaurant that opened on July 11, 2019. Courtesy of SPC GroupBy Kim Jae-heunThe competition is heating up over the country's rapidly growing premium burger market, as local consumers are willing to pay more for high-quality fast food, according to fast food industry officials Sunday.According to the market research company Euromonitor International, the size of the hamburger market here hit 2.96 trillion won in 2020, up by 28.6 percent from 2.3 trillion won ($1.89 billion) in 2015. In 2021, the market reached 4 trillion won as more fast food franchises launched premium burger brands attracting an increasing number of young fast food lovers.SPC Group pioneered the premium hamburger market by bringing the U.S. fast casual restaurant chain Shake Shack here six years ago. Its popularity has continued as it introduces new burgers every year, and SPC now operates 20 branches across the nation.In January, renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay brought his burger restaurant brand, named simply “Gordon Ramsay Burger,” to Seou

Mar 6, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Competition over premium burger market heats up in Korea

Companies

Chanel shunned by customers after 2nd price hike of 2022

Customers flock to Chanel's boutique at Lotte Department Store in Seoul prior to the brand's price hike in May 2020. Korea Times file By Kim Jae-heunMore and more Koreans are turning away from Chanel, as it has lost consumer trust following a series of price hikes over the past two years, according to industry analysts Friday. After the French luxury brand was found to have been charging higher prices for its handbags and other merchandise in Korea than in other Asian countries, more people have stopped visiting its stores.On Thursday, Chanel increased prices by an average of 5 percent, the second price hike of this year after raising prices in January. In 2021, the company lifted prices in September and November.“This is ridiculous. Chanel just raised the prices a months ago ― how can they do it again so quickly? It has not been giving us clear explanations, and only luxury companies have been increasing prices so often,” a 34-year-old office worker surnamed Yoo sa

Mar 5, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Chanel shunned by customers after 2nd price hike of 2022

Politics

Hyundai's IONIQ 5 edges out Mercedes-Benz's EQB in Germany

Hyundai Motor's electric vehicle, the IONIQ 5 / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor By Kim Jae-heunHyundai Motor's IONIQ 5 electric vehicle beat out Mercedes-Benz's EQB in an evaluation conducted by a leading German car magazine, the carmaker said on Friday.Auto Bild magazine gave the IONIQ 582 points out of 800, which nudged out the 562 points the EQB had received in the seven assessment categories, including body, powertrain and connected car and driving performance. Hyundai Motor's electric vehicle was appraised as either superior or equal to Mercedes-Benz's electric vehicle in all categories except two. The recent evaluation is especially meaningful as it was the first time that a non-European car won more recognition for its pure performance and technical side than a German car. In particular, Auto Bild gave higher points to the IONIQ 5 in the powertrain technology and driving performance criteria, with the Korean electric car scoring higher than the EQB in four of nine

Mar 4, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Hyundai's IONIQ 5 edges out Mercedes-Benz's EQB in Germany

Companies

Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Foods consider merger of food and ice cream businesses

Lotte Confectionery's frozen dessert products / Courtesy of Lotte ConfectioneryBy Kim Jae-heunLotte Confectionery CEO Lee Young-goo / Courtesy of Lotte GroupLotte Confectionery and Lotte Foods are considering a merger in order to boost their ice cream businesses' profit by cutting costs in production and retailing.This comes slightly more than two years after Lotte Confectionery's main rival Binggrae acquired Haitai Icecream in March 2020 to become the No.1 player in the market with a 40.7 percent market share. Binggrae reported the merger deal to the Fair Trade Commission two weeks later and the antitrust watchdog approved it in September the same year.In the ice cream market, Lotte Confectionery now holds a 28.6 percent share followed by Lotte Foods with 15.5 percent, Haagen-Dazs with 4.4 percent and Hershey's with 2.8 percent. For the two Lotte affiliates, combining their businesses would give them a 44.1 percent market share thereby overtaking Binggrae by a small margin. Lotte Confectionery, however, said it is too early to confirm a merger deal. “We are looking into variou

Mar 4, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Foods consider merger of food and ice cream businesses

Companies

LS Group to seek mutual growth with LS Partnership program

LS Electric COO Kwon Bong-hyeon, left, poses after signing an agreement to provide support funding for the construction of smart factories to seek mutual growth with small- and medium-sized companies, at LS Yongsan Tower in Seoul in April 2020. Courtesy of LS GroupBy Kim Jae-heunLS Group is providing manpower, technology and information to seek mutual growth with its partner companies while helping them become hidden champions. It is also engaging in technology-sharing projects with various small- and medium-sized companies, as well as agricultural and fishing foundations, to build smart factories around the country. LS Group's cable manufacturing unit LS Cable & System has been reducing the burden on its subcontractors by reflecting increased copper costs in supply prices in conjunction with the international price of the material on a monthly basis. Copper is the main material in LS Cable's original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products. LS Cable posts changes in prices of raw materials on its website for its partner companies to check and adjust their purchase unit prices.LS G

Mar 4, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

LS Group to seek mutual growth with LS Partnership program

Companies

Coupang ends 2021 with record sales, operating loss

Coupang's logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunCoupang saw its operating loss set a new record high of 1.8 trillion won ($1.49 billion) last year, nearly tripling its 622 billion won loss in 2020, as it increased spending to build warehouses and expand recruitment, the company said Thursday.But sales rose to a record high of 22 trillion won, surpassing the 18 trillion won of E-mart, the country's largest retail store chain.The company said it increased spending to expand its food delivery service, launch its new over-the-top platform and hire more warehouse workers.Coupang's logistics center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, suffered a fire last June, leading to an unexpected loss of 341.3 billion won in recovery. “We spent $130 million in investing in our new businesses as well as disinfecting our facilities against COVID-19 last year. We also established 15 square kilometers of logistics infrastructure last year,” a Coupang official said.Coupang's worker delivers parcels in Seoul on Aug. 14, 2021. Korea Times fileThe online retaile

Mar 3, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Coupang ends 2021 with record sales, operating loss

Companies

E-mart workers urge gov't to end twice-monthly store closures

A worker arranges mushroom products on a shelf at an E-mart store in Seoul, Nov. 9, 2020. Yonhap By Kim Jae-heunE-mart workers are urging the government to ease rules on retail store chains by scrapping a regulation forcing them to close twice a month, calling it discrimination against large retailers and their workers in the name of protecting small businesses, the company's union said Thursday. The union also called for abolishing rules preventing the retailers from opening new stores within a kilometer of existing ones.“The restrictions on major retailers did not result in reviving traditional markets or small stores in alleys. In fact, other firms not subject to the regulation are taking advantage of it and customers are being inconvenienced,” E-mart's union said in a statement released on Wednesday. “The government and politicians have to start a dialogue with the public and make a system where both workers at supermarkets and business owners in traditional mar

Mar 3, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

E-mart workers urge gov't to end twice-monthly store closures

Companies

OB to raise beer prices by 7.7%

Oriental Brewery CEO Ben Verhaert holds a bottle of Cass beer during its launch event last March at Sebitseom Floating Island in Seoul. Courtesy of OBBy Kim Jae-heunOriental Brewery (OB) is set to raise the prices for its beer products by an average 7.7 percent on March 8, affected by the recent adjustment of the tax rate on alcohol following global inflation.It is the first time in six years for the brewery firm to increase its prices on its own since November 2016. Its beers such as Cass, Hanmac and OB Lager are subject to the price hike. “We have tried to freeze the prices for the last six years, but it was inevitable due to the rising costs of raw and secondary materials after COVID-19 hit global supplies,” an OB official said. In January 2021, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance revised the tax law to fix the rate on beer and “makgeolli” products reflecting increased consumer prices. That resulted in an automatic price increase of 1.36 percent for all of OB's beers last year, reflecting the government's calculation of the annual inflation rate of 0.5 per

Mar 2, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Companies

CJ CheilJedang appoints new executive to boost global business

CJ CheilJedang Chief Growth Officer Pak Min-sok / Courtesy of CJ CheilJedangBy Kim Jae-heunCJ CheilJedang has appointed Pak Min-sok, a former global chief strategist at Mondelez International, as its new chief growth officer (CGO) who will lead the future growth of the company's food business under CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun's “Future and Talent” medium-term vision, the company said Wednesday.Pak is a leading global strategist and a planning expert, with balanced experience in defining strategies and actually executing them. He has worked for numerous global consumer goods companies and consulting firms, including Mondelez International, Target Corporation, LEGO Group and McKinsey & Company. Pak's experience is well-aligned with CJ CheilJedang's goals of scaling up global strategic products (GSP), building overseas presence and finding promising new businesses. The food giant expects Pak to build momentum in executing the growth strategy for the company's global food business. “It's been a dream of mine to help a leading Korean company become a truly global

Mar 2, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

CJ CheilJedang appoints new executive to boost global business

Companies

Healthcare emerges as key theme in home appliance market

A model wears LG Pra.L MediHair item on his head in this 2020 file photo / Courtesy of LG Electronics By Kim Jae-heunHealthcare has emerged as a key theme among home appliance makers in Korea as more consumers seek devices that can help improve their physical wellbeing amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, according to company officials Tuesday.Washing machines and air conditioners were popular items before 2015, followed by drying machines and dishwashers until 2020. After the outbreak of the pandemic, people started to eye products that can improve their health, such as massage chairs and medical equipment.LG Electronics has been capitalizing on the trend by setting up an exclusive team in charge of developing and marketing such household items.The IT firm has already introduced the “LG Pra. L. MediHair” item, which utilizes 146 lasers and 104 LED lights to support hair growth and slow down male pattern baldness. In January, LG Electronics also launched the “LG Me

Mar 1, 2022By Kim Jae-heun

Kim Jae-heun

Read more

Competition over premium burger market heats up in Korea

Chanel shunned by customers after 2nd price hike of 2022

Hyundai's IONIQ 5 edges out Mercedes-Benz's EQB in Germany

Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Foods consider merger of food and ice cream businesses

LS Group to seek mutual growth with LS Partnership program

Coupang ends 2021 with record sales, operating loss

E-mart workers urge gov't to end twice-monthly store closures

OB to raise beer prices by 7.7%

CJ CheilJedang appoints new executive to boost global business

Healthcare emerges as key theme in home appliance market

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