The Korea Times

Coupang starts sales event for F/W bedding items

Coupang's online “fall/winter bedding” store / Courtesy of CoupangBy Kwak Yeon-sooCoupang has launched a special sales event for bedding items for the fall and winter, the company said Friday.The leading e-commerce firm will offer about 1.2 million bedding items in 12 categories, such as blankets, mattresses, indoor bed tents, electric blankets and carpets.The main page of the category will display a showroom as well as frequently purchased products including rugs, blackout curtains and bedside tables. The store will also offer thermal mattress toppers and blankets for the fall when the temperature drops drastically.“Coupang newly introduced the fall/winter bedding store as more of our customers are looking for trendy home decorations for the new season” said Helen Yoon, Coupang's senior director.“Coupang will continue to recommend various home deco items to help customers style up their home for the upcoming seasons.”

Sep 8, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Coupang starts sales event for F/W bedding items

Companies

Hyundai Department Store sells via Coupang

Hyundai Department Store Trade Center branch / Korea Times fileBy Kwak Yeon-sooHyundai Department Store will sell its products on Coupang, becoming the first department store to partner with Korea's largest e-commerce firm by sales, as more and more Koreans shop online, the company said Sunday.Hyundai said it will sell products and services on Coupang's open market, a system in which a seller pays commission fees to an e-commerce platform.It is highly unusual for a major department store, which mainly deals with luxury goods, to sell via an e-commerce platform, which triggers price competition.Hyundai said the decision was not intended to take part in a brutal price war, but rather to raise brand awareness and accessibility to its offerings. “We decided to partner with Coupang and sell our goods on the platform to increase access to our products and attract new customers,” a company official said. “We will continue to seek strategic partnerships with other e-commerce companies in the future.”The relatively small size of Hyundai's online shopping mall business

Sep 8, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Hyundai Department Store sells via Coupang

Companies

Nissan Motor mulls exit from Korea

Visitors walk near the logo of Nissan at a showroom in Tokyo Thursday, in this Nov. 22, 2018 file photo. / Korea Times fileBy Kwak Yeon-sooNissan Motor's possible exit from Korea has come as no surprise as the carmaker has been reeling from plunging sales since July when Koreans began boycotting Japanese products amid rising tension between Tokyo and Seoul, according to industry officials Sunday.Rumors of Nissan's withdrawal have been intensifying since last Friday when the Financial Times (FT) reported that the Japanese automaker has been considering leaving Korea, hit hard by the deepening trade dispute. It cited poor sales and ongoing financial losses as the main reasons.Sales of Japanese cars in Korea more than halved in August from a year earlier, after Tokyo placed restrictions on the exports of high-tech materials used to manufacture semiconductors and display panels. The decision was widely regarded as a retaliatory move after Korea's top court ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims forced to work for them in wartime.According to the Korea Automobile Importer

Sep 8, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

Lotte, E-mart struggle to stay afloat

Seen above is Lotte Department Store in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. / Korea Times fileRetailers buy back shares, sell real estate By Kwak Yeon-sooRetailers are buying back shares or selling real estate assets as they struggle to deal with falling profits and intensifying competition with e-commerce giants, according to industry officials Tuesday.According to audit reports released by the Financial Supervisory Service, Lotte Holdings bought shares worth 27.3 billion won ($22.5 million) of its flagship retailer Lotte Shopping from Aug. 23 to 29. Lotte Holdings' stake in Lotte Shopping is now 35.9 percent.“Repurchasing Lotte Shopping's shares was intended to show our responsible management,” a Lotte Holdings official said. The stock buyback is designed to prop up the share price amid weak earnings, sending a positive signal to shareholders and the market that the company deserves a higher valuation. Lotte Shopping logged 296.8 billion won in operating profit in the first half of the year, down 3.5 percent from a year earlier, amid weak consumer sentiment and increased price competiti

Sep 6, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

Missha opens 20th store in Turkey

Consumers stand in line to get inside Missha's 20th store in Turkey, which opened in Ankara, Sept. 4. Courtesy of Able C&CBy Kwak Yeon-sooMissha, a mid- to low-priced cosmetics and skincare brand, has opened its 20th store Turkey, its parent company Able C&C said Thursday.The cosmetics manufacturer said it opened five stores in Turkey in July and August, as the Missha brand has surged in popularity there.Since opening its first store in 2014, the company has been striving to expand its presence in the Middle Eastern market through employing a premium strategy.As a result, Missha's sales volume in Turkey has increased dramatically from $1.2 million in in 2014 to 2.23 million in 2018. In the first half of this year, the company exceeded $3 million in sales. The brand currently has stores in eight cities in Turkey, including Istanbul and Ankara. It operates seven stores in Ankara alone.“Turkish consumers recognize Missha as a premium brand,” said Olcay Arslan, head of Missha Turkey's exclusive distributor ARS Cosmetic. “It's significant because other Korean cos

Sep 5, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

SPC sets up joint venture in Cambodia

SPC Group Vice President Hur Jin-soo, right, poses with HSC Group President Sok Hong after signing a contract to set up a joint venture in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 4. / Courtesy of SPC GroupBy Kwak Yeon-sooSPC Group has established a joint venture with Cambodia's HSC Group to tap into the Southeast Asian country, the company said Thursday. This is the first time SPC has set up a joint venture to enter into a foreign market instead of through direct investment.HSC Group operates Crystal Jade restaurant group and DFS duty free shop, both of which are connected with luxury retailer LVMH. It also runs Burger King in Cambodia.Once SPC Group's Paris Baguette Singapore and HSC Food & Beverage complete the joint venture called “H.SPC,” they plan to open Cambodia's first Paris Baguette store. “The food and beverage market is growing fast in Cambodia, and we can expect to create synergy with two neighboring countries, Vietnam and Singapore,” an SPC Group official said. “Apart from Paris Baguette, we will seek opportunities to export other SPC brands and con

Sep 5, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

Companies collaborate with artists to attract millennials

Clockwise from top left: Georgia Gotica's special edition cold brew, Stella Artois' special edition notebook, The Handsome's menswear brand TIME HOMME, Samsung Electronics' BESPOKE refrigerator, Massimiliano Fuksas working on LG Electronics' SIGNATURE lineup and LF's menswear brand JillStuart New YorkBy Kwak Yeon-sooAn increasing number of food and beverage, fashion and electronics brands are looking to visual artists to come up with unique products to appeal to young consumers, company officials said Thursday.Incorporating art into products is nothing new, but collaborations have become more frequent and savvier these days. Using this marketing strategy, companies are trying to boost awareness of their brands and attract younger consumers.Millennials are more drawn to words “individualized” and “unique” when purchasing items and are less impressed when products are described as “luxury” and “popular,” the officials said. Coca-Cola's canned coffee brand Georgia Gotica released a special edition cold brew integrating the art piece &ldquo

Sep 5, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

For Chuseok holiday

S-Oil CEO Hussain Al-Qahtani poses with children holding “songpyeon,” half-moon-shaped stuffed rice cakes, at the Sungsan Community Welfare Center in Seoul, Wednesday. Al-Qahtani and about 100 S-Oil employees held a songpyeon sharing charity event prior to the Chuseok holiday. This year's Chuseok falls on Sept. 13. / Courtesy of S-Oil

Sep 4, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Companies

Korea steps up inspection of imported seafood from Japan

Korean protesters blast Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, March 19, calling on the government to restrict imports of Japanese seafood. Korea Times fileBy Kwak Yeon-sooThe government will strengthen its country-of-origin inspections of fishery products imported from Japan, China and other countries to protect public health, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said Tuesday.The ministry said it will tighten controls on eight seafood products ― pollack, red seabream, ascidian, bonito, scallop, mackerel, eel and octopus ― from Sept. 5 until Oct. 31. The move is widely seen as the latest in a series of responses to Japan's export restrictions on key materials used to manufacture semiconductors and display panels as a protest to Korea's Supreme Court ruling ordering Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced wartime labor. Japan is the second largest seafood exporter to Korea, accounting about 19.4 percent of the total, after China (31.6%). Other main exporters include Taiwan, Vietnam and Canada.Korean consumers have called o

Sep 4, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Korea steps up inspection of imported seafood from Japan

Companies

Hyundai Motor Group develops wearable robot

Workers test Hyundai Motor Group's newly developed wearable robot called VEX. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor GroupBy Kwak Yeon-sooHyundai Motor Group has developed a wearable robot called Vest Exoskeleton (VEX) to help workers who perform overhead tasks for long hours, the company said Wednesday.This is the second industrial wearable robot developed by Hyundai Motor Group, following the Chair Exoskeleton (CEX) that was launched last year. The company expects the VEX will enhance productivity and reduce worker fatigue by imitating the movement of human joints. The exosuit does not require a battery. The new product weighs about 2.5 kilograms, which is up to 42 percent lighter than competing products. It is easy to wear, as the user simply needs to place their arms through the shoulder straps and fasten chest and waist buckles. The back section can adjust in length by up to 18 centimeters to fit a variety of body sizes, while the degree of force assistance can be adjusted over six levels ― up to as much as 5.5 kilograms of force per square centimeter. It can also withstand weights of up t

Sep 4, 2019By Kwak Yeon-soo

Kwak Yeon-soo

Read more

Coupang starts sales event for F/W bedding items

Hyundai Department Store sells via Coupang

Nissan Motor mulls exit from Korea

Lotte, E-mart struggle to stay afloat

Missha opens 20th store in Turkey

SPC sets up joint venture in Cambodia

Companies collaborate with artists to attract millennials

For Chuseok holiday

Korea steps up inspection of imported seafood from Japan

Hyundai Motor Group develops wearable robot

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