South Korea Archives - Inside Retail Asia
How Chinese shop in Korea
Japanese and South Korean retailers are smiling… but these scenes are enough to make a Hong Kong retailer weep: Watch how Chinese shop over Golden Week, in Tokyo, Seoul or Boston.
Asia retail ambition wanes
Germany remains at the top of major retailers’ global expansion priorities.
Chinese tax free spending leaps
Chinese travellers boosted tax free spending by 30 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2014. And for the first time, Chinese shoppers accounted for more than one third of overall spending on tax free shopping, according to data from Global Blue, an international tax refund specialist. That’s the first time in any quarter. Shoppers from Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong also boosted their spend, significantly, but from much lower bases. Part of the reason for the dominance of …
Malaysian cable TV enters retail JV
Malaysian cable TV operator Astro has entered a joint venture with South Korean multimedia retailer GS Home Shopping. And Astro is projecting sales of RM500 million (US$143 million) annually by 2019 after the service has gained critical mass. Astro will own 60 per cent of the joint venture, Go Shop, which will operate 24-seven on TV and online. The service was soft launched in a trial last November. Datuk Rozalila Abdul Rahman, CEO of the JV, said the key to the concept’s success will…
Singapore online discounter launches
Singapore’s newest eCommerce player SavingMart.sg believes it will complement existing online merchants. SavingMart.sg will offer value-conscious shoppers access to coupons and deals from the growing list of existing online businesses. “Whether the goal is to prove savvy fashionistas can surely find their favorite products in Singapore or to shatter the misconception that there aren’t good deals to be found online, SavingMart.sg spans the fashion, beauty and lifestyle sectors with on…
Hong Kong weighs on Burberry
Luxury retailer Burberry says falling sales of high margin products in Hong Kong dented its latest quarterly earnings. While the group’s underlying revenue rose 15 per cent, and comparable sales rose by eight per cent, a robust performance in China and Korea was undermined by falling sales in Hong Kong. That fall was largely due to the impact of the Occupy Central democracy protests and slowing tourism numbers from China’s mainland, combined with the clampdown on gift-giving. Burber…
Retail sales slip further in Korea
Retail sales at South Korea’s department stores fell for the fourth consecutive month in December. Data from the Finance Ministry, collected from department stores owned by Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae, shows sales were down 0.3 per cent year on year. However, the Finance Ministry said on Friday that while year on year data showed a drop, there was continued evidence of retail sales across the nation recovering when measured on a month to month basis, since the significant fall last Septem…
China, India to lead retail growth
China and India will be the countries showing the greatest growth in retail real estate in 2015, according to Colliers International’s 2015 Property Outlook. But emerging markets such as Indonesia are also benefitting from political stability, and most Asian markets are seeing solid growth in consumption. “The increased spending power of the younger generation, the rapid growth in middle-class families and the sustained pace of urbanisation across the continent have been the driving forces…
UnionPay flexes international muscle
China’s UnionPay has overtaken major international credit card brands to become the most-used foreign card in South Korea. The ascendancy has been largely driven by a boom in Chinese tourism into Korea, but UnionPay says the achievement is giving the brand an increasing say in the global market. Bomee Sheng, GM of UnionPay International South Korea, said UnionPay cards have occupied approximately 40 per cent of the market share in foreign tourist spending in South Korea, ranking No 1, ac…
Hong Kong loses retail rent ranking
New York’s Upper Fifth Avenue is now the world’s most expensive to rent retail space. It has overtaken Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay in the annual Cushman & Wakefield Main Streets Across the World survey released in France this week. On Upper Fifth Avenue, (pictured), rents rose 13.3 per cent year-on-year to a record US$3500 per square foot, while Causeway Bay rents fell 6.8 per cent to $2735. In third spot was Champs-Élysées in Paris, where rents were static after a stunning 40 …
Inside South Korea’s largest mall
South Korea’s largest shopping centre, Lotte World Mall is now open in Seoul. Lotte World Mall seamlessly integrates a high-end department store, entertainment tower and world-class concert hall, with a retail development, establishing a shopping and entertainment destination to act as a centrepiece of Seoul’s 10 million strong megacity and its booming tourism industry. Benoy, the architects, masterplanners, interior and graphic design consultancy, was the interior architect for the …
Dairy Queen still keen on India
Dessert chain Dairy Queen is seeking a partner to expand into India. The US based company, owned by private equity investor Berkshire Hathaway, operates about 6000 Dairy Queen stores in more than 20 countries and is committed to a progressive roll-put strategy in Asia, especially. Its stores sell a range of soft serve ice cream products, but sells some burgers and other fast food lines at outlets branded DQ Restaurant and DQ Grill & Chill. Earlier talks with reliance Retail broke do…
