Ralph Lauren American website blocks Black Friday shopping from Korea

U.S. Olympic athletes in the official Team USA Opening Ceremony Parade stand on the podium wearing Ralph Lauren designed uniforms in the United States, on July 12, 2012. AP-Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Ralph Lauren will block online customers in Korea from its official American website a week ahead of Black Friday, the biggest sales event of the year there, along with shoppers from the entire Asian region.

“Local customers are restricted from directly purchasing Ralph Lauren products via the American online mall during the Black Friday sales. This policy will continue for a while and we are waiting for the headquarters in the Unites States to give us an explanation,” a Ralph Lauren official in Korea said.

Ralph Lauren, and many other brands, commence Black Friday sales from Nov. 26 when apparel and accessories will be offered with discounts of up to 90 percent.

The price benefit is not the only reason why many local customers shop on the casual fashion giant's American website. There are a variety of items that are not available on the domestic market.

Industry insiders say there are two possible reasons for the fashion company blocking direct purchases from the Asian region during this period.

In Korea, Ralph Lauren is one of the most popular casual fashion brands purchased during the Black Friday sales. The fashion firm's Korean branch wants to defend its sales here and it allegedly requested the headquarters to block local customers.

Prices of Ralph Lauren items at local department stores are 30 percent to 50 percent higher than the same items in the United States.

One industry source, contrary to Ralph Lauren's local distributor's earlier statement, said, “Ralph Lauren's Korean branch is said to have filed a complaint with its U.S. headquarters for hurting domestic sales during the Black Friday event in America.”

Another possible reason is that many Chinese shoppers are said to have purchased large quantities of Ralph Lauren products to resell in China while returning replicas to the American seller for refunds. Though, this allegation has not been confirmed by the brand's representatives.

Due to the restrictions on overseas direct purchases, local customers are resorting to strategies such as using VPNs to route IP address locations to outside Asia.

Also, people are using American addresses registered to Korean logistics agencies there and then pay additional shipment fees to receive their orders from sales intermediaries.

Some have suggested it is possible to circumvent the system by using PayPal for online payments, but this is said to be an unreliable method.

“Ralph Lauren items become very expensive with various fees added when they are imported to Korea. The fashion firm needs to find a way to reduce the price gap instead of just blocking local shoppers from direct purchases from America,” said a Korean only identified by their surname, Kim.