Shopping Bags Not in Vogue in Korea
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Once just a means to carry a purchase home in, shopping bags have now become much more for overseas retailers, as these paper carriers themselves work as fashionable, walking billboards.
Upscale, mega American retail chain Saks Fifth Avenue this year gave its signature gray bag a facelift with a sophisticated black-and-white look, while another high-end retailer Lord & Taylor also redesigned its once thin, lightweight ``cheap'' shopping bag into an 80 cents per piece, glossy and sleeker replacement.
``It's an unspoken goal,'' said Terron E. Schaefer, senior vice president for marketing at Saks, according to the New York Times. ``We want people to keep the bag.''
Why the sudden rush for reusability?
``We can assume that it goes along with the booming eco-friendly movement,'' said Choi Bo-ram, a marketing consultant and designer at Design Guru. ``Not only do shoppers want to use the bag over again, but they would also prefer to be spotted carrying an attractive accessory.''
Retailers agree this is true, as luxury goods department chain Bergdorf Goodman says it's in the process of making a piece that has ``greater longevity'' with an attractive edge.
Its employees were even said to have taken pictures of each other holding prototypes in Manhattan streets to see how they look.
Similar sensitivity toward shopping bags was already big in Europe years back, as the history of luxury carriers dates back to the days when high-end brands, including Cartier and Louis Vuitton, first designed and put out their pieces.
But although the boom is evident in the overseas fashion business, local retailers don't exactly seem to be following the same track, or not as much, considering how shoppers here, by law, have to pay 100 won for each shopping bag.
Hyundai Department Store ― after nine years of keeping the same design ― recently gave its bag a facelift with a more artistic look, but Shinsegae and Lotte department stores seem to be satisfied with their versions for now.
``Our bags were redone just two years ago, so we don't have plans to redesign them in the near future,'' said Shinsegae spokeswoman Cho Sung-eun, adding that although local retailers do consider the importance, the effort isn't as big as those of foreign companies.
``Compared to the overseas retail stores, Korean businesses fall way behind in terms of product packaging,'' said Han Cheong-eun, a buyer of foreign luxury goods, adding that no matter how expensive a store it is, no one is exempt from paying for a bag. ``Local retailers should try harder to accommodate customers' needs even after they make the purchase.''