Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Korea enters full election mode
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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[Kim Seong-kon] The April 2024 election will decide our future
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[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
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Concerns spread over logistics center-linked COVID-19
Consumers are increasingly concerned by the vast COVID-19 infections linked to major e-commerce logistics centers in South Korea on Thursday, with authorities scurrying to track and contain the spread, while companies received mixed views for their contrasting countermeasures. Since an employee working at Coupang’s logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, was first confirmed to have contracted the virus Saturday, related cases stood at 82 as of 2 p.m. Thursday. Coupang shut down
May 28, 2020
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Coupang closes Bucheon logistics center over COVID-19 cases
E-commerce platform giant Coupang said Tuesday it has closed its Bucheon logistics center in Gyeonggi Province and conducted disinfection of the facility after at least 10 COVID-19 cases are confirmed to be linked with its employees there. According to the company, it will take additional fumigation measures at the center and also check on around 3,700 employees, which includes workers at the center and also those who visited the center from May 12 to Monday. “We sterilize the products
May 26, 2020
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Starbucks Korea expands Teavana stores as tea gains popularity
Starbucks Korea said Tuesday that it has expanded the number of Reserve stores selling Teavana drinks to 52 from 13 amid the growing popularity of tea. According to the coffee chain, sales of tea drinks have grown about 20 percent annually since it launched Teavana here in 2016. Its flagship Honey Ruby Grapefruit Black Tea, rolled out in 2016, is now its third-most-frequently ordered drink, after Americano and caffe latte, among customers in their 20s, Starbucks Korea said. Sales of green te
May 26, 2020
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Duty-free shops suffer sharp drop in April sales amid virus outbreak
South Korean duty-free stores saw their sales drop sharply below the 1 trillion-won ($804 million) mark in April, feeling the pinch of the fallout from the new coronavirus, industry data showed Tuesday. Combined sales of local duty-free shops shrank 9.2 percent on-month to 986.7 billion won last month, according to the data from the Korea Duty Free Shops Association. The number halved from January, the data showed. The number of visitors to duty-free outlets came to around 354,00
May 25, 2020
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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
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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 22, 2020
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[Herald Interview] Ocado Solutions in talks with retailers to enter Korea
British grocery e-commerce service provider Ocado Solutions is in talks with major grocery retailers in South Korea to present its advanced automation system, according to its chief executive. Recognizing how Korea has well-developed online consumer habits, it is an exciting market to introduce the Ocado Smart Platform specialized in grocery business, CEO Luke Jensen told The Korea Herald in an exclusive interview. “We are discussing with various players in the (Korean) market, to deter
May 21, 2020
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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 20, 2020
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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
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White chicken meat enjoys heyday on wellness boom in Korea
There is no doubt that chicken is one of the most-favored meats around the world, but the favorite parts of the meat may vary across cultures. In South Korea, white chicken breast is often less in demand the softer and juicier dark meat of thighs and wings. But in recent years, chicken breast has been experiencing a heyday here, as more people are looking for a healthier protein choice with less fat. Along with increased attention on wellness, the growing dumbbell economy here has also shed
May 18, 2020
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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 17, 2020
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Namyang Dairy at center of controversy again for badmouthing rival
Namyang Dairy Products, one of South Korea’s major dairy companies, is again at the center of controversy for allegedly paying professional trolls to disparage a rival company online. After several similar incidents over the past few years, many people have chosen to boycott the firm. Namyang Dairy Chairman Hong Won-sik and six others, including Namyang employees and representatives of a contracted PR agency, are currently being investigated by police and potentially face charg
May 8, 2020
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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 8, 2020
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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 6, 2020
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Flour power: Hipsters warm to retro gimmicks
An unusual brand produced the fashion hit of the winter in Korea last season. White padded jackets with the Gompyo logo splashed across the chest sold out almost instantly when they were released in November. Logos have been a fashion mainstay for decades, but the difference here is that Gompyo is a brand of flour. The jacket, a limited edition item released by Daehan Flour’s 68-year-old household brand Gompyo in collaboration with e-commerce platform 4XR, retailed online at 145,000 wo
May 5, 2020
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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
May 4, 2020
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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,
April 29, 2020
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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
April 27, 2020
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Home-shopping livestreaming by department stores picks up pace
Department stores are jumping into “live commerce” by livestreaming services -- providing indirect shopping experiences -- to tackle weakened sales amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to industry sources Friday. Hyundai Department Store said it will run a livestream fashion show dubbed “2020 Digital Live Fashion Show” at 7 p.m. on Saturday. It is the first time a department store will run a fashion show without audience. The online fashion show will be livestreamed
April 25, 2020
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Amorepacific announces ‘less plastic’ campaign on Earth Day
Amorepacific Group, a leading cosmetics company here, announced a plan on Wednesday to use less plastic to safeguard health and the environment. Wednesday was Earth Day. The company’s “less plastic” campaign consists of three actions: to reduce the use of plastic packaging for its products, to recycle more of its plastic packaging and to increase the use of upcycled materials to produce its products. “We will continue to stand up front in creating a happier, more beau
April 22, 2020