Coupang expands global shelf with over 600 overseas brands

E-commerce giant Coupang said Monday that hundreds of global brands have joined its cross-border shopping service, Rocket Jikgu, broadening Korean shoppers' access to brands with a following abroad. Launched for US products in 2017, the service has since expanded to include goods from Japan and Hong Kong. More than 600 new brands have signed on this year alone, extending Coupang's lineup beyond food and supplements to beauty and fashion, the company said. Exemplifying the push is J.Q. Dickinson

2026-08-10 17:25:57:00

Budget coffee takes Korean identity overseas

Korea's budget coffee chains, built on affordability and accessibility, may be pushing the market to saturation, and rising bean prices and currency pressure are squeezing margins further. Instead, the chains are betting on markets abroad, leaning on Korean identity as their edge, especially as interest in K-food and other content keeps rising. This month has already brought a string of openings abroad, each a day apart. Ediya Coffee opened its first store in Laos on Saturday through a master fr

2026-08-10 15:09:04:00

K-beauty shops go off-script from warehouses to pharmacies

In Korean beauty retail, Olive Young stands tallest, with 1,367 stores and counting, though that footprint buys no immunity from shifts in the industry. Over the past few years, a new generation of beauty shops has stepped in to compete for K-beauty's growing customer base, launched mostly by retail giants like Shinsegae, Lotte and even Musinsa, with each running curated multi-brand stores with its own spin. Yet rising alongside them is another kind of retailer that tilts away from the familiar

2026-08-09 14:55:15:00

KT&G raises outlook after record first-half revenue

KT&G delivered double-digit profit growth for a fourth straight quarter, posting record first-half revenue as its profitability strategy and robust overseas sales drove the gains, the South Korean tobacco maker said Thursday. In the April-June period, consolidated revenue rose 9.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion), while operating profit climbed 18.5 percent to 414.5 billion won. Revenue for the first half reached about 3.4 trillion won, a record for the six-month st

2026-08-06 17:20:13:00

Homeplus reopens ahead of full operations next week

Homeplus said Thursday it is starting its reopening with a soft launch today, drawing on the cash injection that kept its rehabilitation alive, with a court decision on the plan just four weeks away. The retailer said the much-needed 200 billion won ($141 million) debtor-in-possession loan from Meritz Financial Group has landed in its accounts, three weeks after the court reversed its decision to terminate Homeplus's rehabilitation once the loan agreement came through. "We plan to quickly wrap u

2026-08-06 14:18:34:00

APR eyes W3tr revenue as global sales surge

South Korean beauty tech firm APR said Wednesday that both sales and profit more than doubled to quarterly records, with overseas sales now accounting for over 90 percent of revenue. Consolidated revenue in the April-June period rose 134.2 percent to 767.5 billion won ($540 million) from a year earlier, while operating profit climbed 134.5 percent to 190.6 billion won, both record highs, lifting operating margin to 24.8 percent. The company also notched its best six-month stretch, with first-hal

2026-08-05 14:37:05:00

Coupang posts steep Q2 loss on levy despite sales growth

E-commerce giant Coupang posted its largest quarterly operating loss since its New York listing in 2021, as a fine tied to last year's data breach swamped otherwise solid revenue growth. The company said Wednesday that revenue for the April-June period rose 10 percent on-year on a constant currency basis to $8.9 billion. The operating loss widened to $556 million from an operating profit of $149 million a year earlier. Combined with the first quarter's $242 million operating loss, Coupang's firs

2026-08-05 11:50:47:00

Starbucks dethroned in card spending after 'Tank Day' campaign

Rival coffee chains are chipping away at Starbucks Korea's market lead in the fallout from its "Tank Day" controversy, payment data showed Tuesday, with Twosome Place having overtaken Starbucks in monthly card sales for a third straight month. Twosome Place logged an estimated 117 billion won ($82 million) in card sales last month, some 7 billion won more than Starbucks' 110 billion won, according to IGAWorks' Mobile Index. Twosome Place has outsold Starbucks every month since May, taking the le

2026-08-04 14:09:28:00

Daewoo E&C Q2 profit jumps over 180%

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Tuesday its second-quarter operating profit nearly tripled from a year earlier, as a lower cost ratio and stronger building-segment margins lifted profit. The builder posted operating profit of 232.3 billion won ($163 million) in the April-June period, up 182.6 percent on-year, while net profit swung up to 167.2 billion won from a loss in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 10.1 percent to 2.04 trillion won. For the first half, cumulative revenue came

2026-08-04 10:48:53:00

Jeju racing park hits 3 million visitors on AI, tourism boost

DSM Corporation, a South Korean company spanning mobility, energy and entertainment, said Monday that its smart racing theme park, 9.81 Park Jeju, on Jeju Island has drawn more than 3 million paying visitors over six years. The company's Monolith division, which runs the park's more than 20 activities including gravity racing, said visitors passed 3 million as of June, since opening in July 2020. Actual foot traffic, including cafe and facility-only visitors, is likely higher, the company said.

2026-08-03 17:22:37:00