South Korea’s imports of beer recorded an all-time low last year, amid a nationwide boycott of Japanese beer and other products, data showed Monday. According to the Korea Customs Service, imports of beer decreased by 1.7 percent on-year to $223.1 million last year. The figure surpassed the record-low imports of $181.5 million in 2016. The list of major beer import countries last year includes ...

The convenience store chain 7-Eleven of Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group said Friday it joined hands with Oasis Business, startup solution platform, to develop an Artificial Intelligence solution to support those who wish to start the franchise business. Based on the partnership, the store chain plans to provide more objective data of the commercial area around the new franchise and accurate sal...

Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group is highly likely to be picked as a preferred bidder to acquire the nation’s fifth-largest convenience store chain Ministop Korea, according to industry sources Wednesday. Lotte reportedly offered the highest bidding price -- 300 billion won ($251.5 million) -- possibly leaving out its crosstown rival Shinsegae Group in the heated race. “Since Lotte has outbid ot...

South Korea’s exports of kimchi recorded an all-time high last year, reaching a trade surplus for the first time in 12 years, data showed Monday. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of spicy sauce and fermented cabbage. According to the Korea Customs Service, exports of kimchi surged by 10.7 percent on-year to $159.9 million last year. The figure surpassed the record-high exports of $...

Lotte Hotel, the hotel chain owned by Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group, said Monday that it will open a new hotel in Chicago next year, the first overseas launch under its lifestyle boutique hotel brand L7. Lotte said it completed an acquisition of Kimpton Hotel Monaco Chicago for 42.8 billion won ($35.9 million) on Friday (US time) in a joint investment with the state-run Korea Overseas Infrast...

Amid the prolonged strike of unionized delivery workers of CJ Logistics, the logistics unit of Korea’s conglomerate CJ Group, government is planning to deploy additional workers to prepare for a delivery surge in the upcoming New Year’s holiday. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, starting Monday, it will deploy around 10,000 delivery workers to the field from Jan. 1...

Korea’s IT giant Kakao said Thursday it will ban CEOs and executives representing its subsidiaries from selling company shares shortly after their market debuts in an apparent move to quell public criticism over their management ethics. According to Kakao’s Corporate Alignment Center, the new control tower that oversees Kakao affiliates, CEOs and executives will be prohibited from exercising st...

The ongoing pandemic has brought a significant change in South Korea’s job market where technology skills such as data visualization and coding -- not necessarily academic background -- have become prime qualities that businesses look for from job seekers. “The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed brought about huge polarization in the local job market. Job seekers who majored in liberal arts or busines...

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Wednesday it has exclusively launched the product lines of Nitori, Japan’s largest furniture and household goods brand. According to the company, Coupang will directly import Nitori products so that customers in Korea can conveniently purchase the brand’s items. Celebrating the launch, Coupang presents a limited-time offer from Wednesday to Friday. Any...

Market valuation estimates of local digital platforms that promote individual trading of secondhand products have been on the rise with traditional retailers and even banks injecting large investments in hopes of them becoming the next Coupang and Market Kurly. Some market insiders say that valuation of Danggeun Market, the nation’s biggest secondhand trading app by transaction volume, is estima...

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit said Friday that nonfungible tokens featuring images of main lead characters from TV drama series “Jirisan” had sold at record-low prices. NFTs are digital tokens of physical or digital assets, mostly of music or art, that guarantee ownership through blockchain technology. According to the digital asset trading platform, the pixel art NFTs of the chara...

Starbucks Korea, the nation’s No. 1 specialty coffee chain, said Wednesday it is considering bumping up the price for a cup of Americano in almost eight years due to the price surge in coffee beans imported from overseas. “Even when other franchise coffee shops have increased their coffee prices, we have fixed our price rate. It was bearable back then, but since COVID-19, the price of coffee bea...

CJ CheilJedang, a food manufacturer under Korea’s CJ Group, said Tuesday it will reorganize its business units and refine global market strategies in a bid to efficiently promote its Korean food products worldwide. According to the food giant, it plans to divide its headquarters business into global and regional food unit. Namely the Global Headquarter will take charge in promoting its food pro...

Concerns over NFT frenzy However, concerns loom over the fledgling market as some market players lack an understanding of the legal restrictions related to the copyrighted work. For instance, Hermes recently lambasted the NFT sale of “Meta Birkins,” a Birkins bag NFT created by digital artist Mason Rothschild. The collection was sold for 230 ethereum, around $936,000, according to the auctionee...

The competition is heating up between two South Korean tech giants, Naver and Kakao, to enter the emerging digital health care market worth an estimated 320 trillion won ($270 billion) and growing using artificial intelligence, market insiders said Friday. According to Naver, it plans to build an in-house “smart hospital” supported by AI in its new headquarters next year. Attending to some 4,300...