Baristas and employees of Starbucks Korea are fuming over excessive workload, after a recent marketing event drew customers lining up for hours. Saying the company has no consideration for the working conditions of its already-overworked staff, the employees said they may stage their first-ever collection action this week. A staffer at the US-based coffee chain, who requested anonymity, confi...

South Korea’s major milk and dairy product providers are set to raise retail prices of their products next week. Namyang Dairy Products said Friday the company will increase retail prices of commercial milk products by an average 4.9 percent from Oct. 14. The firm said the prices of fermented and processed milk products will be risen 0.3 percent and 1.6 percent on average, respectively. For ex...

In a statement posted on the Dunkin’ Donuts’ Korean website, BR Korea said it was investigating hygiene standards at the factory and how well they were observed. “We are internally investigating the matter. The Korea Food & Drug Administration also conducted a spot check of the facility Wednesday morning,” read the statement. It also said it will “come up with internal and external measures” de...

Move to encourage spending causes confusion over where you can use it

Buoyed by the pandemic, video gaming boom sees e-commerce and furniture companies cater to players with deep pockets

Retail sales in South Korea moved up 6.4 percent in August from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, as people continued to purchase more food and groceries online amid the new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.6 trillion won ($10.6 billion) last month, compared with 11.9 trillion won tallied in the previous year, according to...

BAT Rothmans on Monday launched the new tobacco heating product Glo Pro Slim in South Korea in an online media conference. Glo Pro Slim marks the latest edition of the Glo series, following the launch of Glo Pro early last year. The company said the new product adds to its growing list of Glo products and will appeal to consumers seeking potentially reduced-risk products. “BAT Rothmans will lea...

From virtual shops, promos to staff training, companies rush to have something virtual

Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay will open a Seoul branch of his famed burger restaurant at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southern Seoul, this December. The Seoul location will be the first Gordon Ramsay Burger in Asia, and the third branch to open globally. Ramsay rose to stardom as the iconic host of “Hell’s Kitchen,” an American cooking competition show that has aired since 2005. The Briti...

The secondhand smartphone market is enjoying a bump from recent releases of flagship models from Samsung and Apple. According to Bungaejangter on Friday, a South Korean mobile secondhand marketplace, the volume of transactions for used smartphones has reached some 100 billion won as consumers switched to new phones. Used phone transactions have become the most traded category on the platform dur...

Lotte Department Store is offering its first-ever voluntary retirement since first opening 42 years ago. The operator of the department store chain, Lotte Shopping, said Friday it told employees that it will be “accepting voluntary retirement applications for the next two weeks” in an internal announcement Thursday. The restructuring program is particularly for staff members who have worked for...

NBA superstar LeBron James will be playing in a Bibigo-branded jersey for the upcoming season, as CJ’s frozen dumpling and sauce brand signed a partnership deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. The basketball team announced on its social media Tuesday, local time, that it signed a marketing partnership with Bibigo’s US branch. Attached with the announcement was a photo of LeBron James wearing a Bib...

But will it really take off and open a more sustainable future for the beauty industry? Some experts appear cautious. Professor Myung Jae-wook at KAIST’s department of civil & environment engineering pointed out that discounts offered on refills are not yet attractive enough. “Korean cosmetics companies offer only around 20-30 percent discount. That’s not enough to compensate for the customer ...

Gmarket said on Thursday its global shop sales during this year’s Chuseok promotion, which ended on Tuesday, increased compared to last year’s thanks to a wider selection of items on sale and more discount coupons. Gmarket’s global shop, which sells to about 80 countries through its English and Chinese websites, said its sales of household items jumped 110 percent from the previous Mega G-Festiv...

New project to strengthen position as property developer