May 22, 2020

Pulmuone opens LEED-certified food research institute

South Korean food company Pulmuone said Friday it has completed the construction of Pulmuone Institute of Technology, the first research and development center that has received certification from the US-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. According to the company, its new institute received a “Gold” level in LEED, which is one of the widely used green building rating system. Built in the designated biotechnology zone, in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, the R&a

May 22, 2020

Tmon vows to turn profit by 10th anniversary

Tmon, an e-commerce platform in South Korea, promised Friday to turn profit this year as it marks its 10th anniversary. With the goal of going public, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Lee Jin-won revealed his ambition to lead the e-commerce market. “Tmon is a company that has been labeled the most as ‘the industry’s first,’ in Korea’s e-commerce market. We started as the country’s first social-commerce (provider), and now created the title ‘

May 21, 2020

[Herald Interview] Ocado Solutions in talks with retailers to enter Korea

CEO Luke Jensen describes Korea’s retail market as “early adopter” to online groceries

May 20, 2020

Cafe24 joins Facebook’s new e-commerce initiative

Cafe24, a South Korean e-commerce solutions company, said Wednesday it has joined Facebook’s new initiative, “Shops,” as a partner. Facebook announced the launch of Shops on Tuesday to allow small businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both its platform and Instagram. Cafe24, which provides solutions to create online stores and related services, such as marketing, and logistics, will be working with Facebook in the social media’s new ini

May 18, 2020

Tmon collects W29.1m donations to support rare skin disease patient

Tmon, an e-commerce platform here, said Monday it would deliver 29.1 million won ($23,625) raised from donations to a teenager suffering from a rare skin disease. To mark this year’s Children’s Day – on May 5 -- Tmon said it partnered with Miral Welfare Foundation, a local nongovernmental organization, to start a social donation campaign on its platform for a teenage patient named Park Jun-seo. The 15-year-old patient has been suffering from an unidentified skin disease, in w

May 18, 2020

White chicken meat enjoys heyday on wellness boom in Korea

Demand, sales of chicken breasts soar, upping competition among food, home meal replacement companies

May 17, 2020

COVID-19 changes home appliances consumption trend

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has led to a change in the home appliance consumption trends, with increased popularity of electronics helping household chores and less demand for grooming and beauty-related products, according to the retail industry Sunday. According to Homeplus, a South Korean discount chain, the sales of dishwashers and dish dryers jumped by 36 times in March and April compared to a year earlier. On the list of best-selling products by sales, those machines soared

May 8, 2020

Namyang Dairy at center of controversy again for badmouthing rival

Once industry-leading dairy firm faces boycott after series of controversies

May 8, 2020

Chamisul Fresh’s alcohol content lowered to 16.9%

South Korean liquor maker HiteJinro said Friday it will renew its flagship soju product Chamisul Fresh, lowering the alcoholic content by 0.1 percent to 16.9 percent to match with rival soju brands. Chamisul Fresh is the No. 1 soju brand by sales here. According to the company, the renewed Chamisul Fresh is produced by applying different manufacturing techniques and it will also change part of the package design, to add Environmental Product Declaration mark issued by Korea Environmental Ind

May 6, 2020

Online shopping jumps nearly 12% on-year in March amid virus pandemic

Online shopping surged nearly 12 percent from a year earlier in March, data showed Wednesday, an apparent outcome of the new coronavirus outbreak that forced people to stay home. The value of online transactions came to about 12.58 trillion won ($10.3 billion) in the month, up 11.8 percent from the same month last year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The increase followed a 24.5 percent on-year spike the previous month. The sharp increase in March was largely attributed to the

May 5, 2020

Flour power: Hipsters warm to retro gimmicks

Retailers roll out themed goods as established brands aim to refresh identities

May 4, 2020

Retailers roll out Family Month promotions

After COVID-19 dampened consumer sentiment for the first quarter, retailers are pinning their hopes on Family Month and are rolling out various promotions to get consumers to open their wallets in May. May is usually a good month for the retail industry because of three holidays that tend to increase consumer spending on gifts for loved ones and teachers. Tuesday is Children’s Day, Friday is Parents’ Day and Teachers’ Day is May 15. To ease the burden on consumers amid th

Apr 29, 2020

Coupang launches same-day delivery for fresh groceries

South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang launched a same-day Rocket Fresh service Wednesday. The service will allow customers who order fresh food items before 10 a.m. to receive them by 6 p.m. The Rocket Fresh service has been operating its dawn overnight deliveries since October 2018. Coupang said the same-day service has been offered in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak as demands for online groceries shopping soared over the past months. Coupang said it offers 8,500 fresh food options,

Apr 27, 2020

South Korea’s online shopping rate ranks world’s second amid COVID-19

South Korea’s online shopping rate was listed as second highest in the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a research firm said Monday. According to dunnhumby, a global customer data science company , Korea ranked second after China in the survey studying online consumption patterns, conducted with 7,677 consumers in 19 countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 19 countries include five in Asia -- South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand; 10 from Europe -- S