By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Walk into some of the city's top department stores these days, and you'll quickly notice that there is an unusually large number of bargains lining the luxurious, marble aisles. From men's shirts, women's lingerie, golf gloves, and ceramic bowls to children's socks, the discount bins have it all.
``I don't think we've had discounts so steep since the start of 2000,'' says Kim Sung-dae, spokesman of Lotte Department Store, the nation's biggest department store chain. He explained that many fashion labels and consumer goods brands are even putting up new fall items for sale.
Recent blowout sales like the 10,000 won-for-any-shirt event at Lotte, and the buy one apparel, get one free promotion at Hyundai Department Store are taking people down memory lane to the late 1990s.
This was when retailers fell into desperate marketing ploys to ride out what became ironically knows as the ``IMF crisis,'' when the International Monetary Fund bailed out South Korea from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
``President Lee Myung-bak repeatedly says that today's situation is different from the `IMF period,' but for us retailers, the two are the same,'' says one executive of Shinsegae Department Store, who didn't want to be named.
Desperate times call for desperate marketing, he says, adding that marketers have to offer consumers ways to stretch the value of the won, or else they'll end up trading down to cheaper competitors.
Key indicators already show that consumers are closing their wallets. According to the finance ministry, sales at the country's top three retail chains ― Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai ― fell almost 3 percent from a year ago.
These high-end emporiums are shooting for a speedy rebound, but they're certainly up against a tough game with their ``cheaper competitors'' pulling out similar cards to grab money-crunched shoppers.
Most discounters have been fronting their private label (PL) products that are typically 20 to 40 percent cheaper than regular merchandise.
Shinsegae E-Mart even put out PL goods for pets to offer pet owners a wider selection of products at a deal.