Lotte Shopping, the e-commerce arm under retail giant Lotte, said Wednesday it plans to inject some 1 trillion won ($705 million) to boost its online grocery business. In partnership with Ocado, UK’s retail solutions provider, the company will adopt the Ocado Smart Platform, which uses artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning technologies to offer fast delivery service of fresh groceries. The platform operates automated fulfillment centers where hundreds of robots sort and pi

While consumer prices inched up 3% from 2019 to 2021, signature Chanel bag spiked 84%

Global resort brand Capella announced its South Korean debut in Yangyang, Gangwon Province, some 107 kilometers from Seoul. Under the 830 billion won ($584 million) project, the luxury beach resort will be constructed near Songjeon beach by the second half of 2025. The company said Capella Yangyang aims to become the largest wellness resort here with a total of 261 rooms. There will be restaurants, convention halls and a total of five swimming pools, a mixture of indoor and outdoor. The resort

Retailers called off a series of Halloween-themed marketing events following an overnight crowd surge that killed at least 153 people, among some 100,000 who turned up for Halloween festivities in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in central Seoul, late Saturday. Many retail companies here had planned to use Halloween to promote their products catering to young consumers, but events have quickly been canceled following the government’s announcement of a national mourning period throu

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Wednesday it has launched a cross-border online shopping service in the burgeoning Taiwanese market, saying it would help small and medium-sized Korean companies expand their businesses overseas. Through the Taiwanese version of Coupang's mobile app, consumers in Taiwan can use the company’s ultrafast Rocket Delivery service. Customers can order millions of groceries, daily necessities and other products from South Korea, and receive them i

Philip Morris Korea on Tuesday launched Iqos Iluma, its new flagship heated tobacco product that requires no cleaning process, saying it hopes to enhance customer experience. “Our new heat-not-burn cigarette uses smart core induction technology that doesn’t require heating blades like previous models. Since the tobacco sticks are not inserted into the blades, you don’t have to clean the ashes caught in the blades and there is no risk of damaging them,” said Baek Young-jae

In a country of soju and beer, young drinkers show greater appetite for wines: Pernod Ricard Korea CEO

Heo Young-in, CEO of South Korean bakery giant SPC Group, bowed deep in apology Friday over a young factory worker killed in an accident at one of the company's bread-making factories last week. “I feel strongly responsible for this accident and accept criticism from the public without any excuses. I also send my deepest apology for not caring for the grief and shock of the employees who worked with the deceased,” Heo said during a press conference. As part of prevention measures, He

Japanese models pose for a photo after wearing fashion items from South Korean street fashion brand Nerdy at Rakuten GirlsAward 2022 in Tokyo, one of the three largest fashion events in the city. Nerdy was invited as a special brand for the show’s finale.

Use of plastic bags at convenience stores will be banned from Nov. 24, two years after they were removed from hypermarkets as part of eco-friendly efforts. Like in the large supermarkets, customers will have the option of purchasing standard user-pay trash bags or paper bags at convenience stores to carry what they bought. If a store is found to have used regular plastic bags, it will be slapped with fines of up to 3 million won ($2,086). Convenience store chains such as GS25 and CU have already

A fire Saturday at a Kakao data center in Pangyo, south of Seoul, has led to a server outage affecting the KakaoTalk messenger app, along with other apps such as Kakao T, Kakao Map, Kakao Metro, Kakao Webtoon, Kakao Bank, Kakao-owned portal Daum and music streaming service Melon. The internet connection for the apps has been unavailable since 3:30 p.m. "There has been a fire at SK C&C data center since 3:30 p.m. Work has begun to put down the fire, but we are uncertain when the fir

An advertising campaign video for kimchi, co-produced by South Korea's leading kimchi maker Daesang and Seo Kyung-duk, an expert in promoting Korea overseas, plays in New York's Times Square on Monday. Under the slogan, "Taste the original," the campaign aims to promote Korea as the originator of kimchi as well as customer awareness worldwide.  

A study has found that heated tobacco product Glo contained less toxicants than traditional cigarettes, and could help reduce potential harm of smoking-related diseases, the Seoul branch of its manufacturer BAT Group said Tuesday. “Our recent one-year clinical trial found that our flagship heated tobacco product Glo showed 90-95 percent less toxicants contained in aerosol compared to cigarette smoke,” said Sharon Goodall, head of Regulatory Science at BAT Group, during a press conf

With the Korean won falling sharply against the US dollar, cross-border shopping on US platforms has become less attractive to Korean shoppers in a peak season that includes Black Friday in the US, sources said Monday. According to Statistics Korea data, transaction volume of cross-border shopping from the country to the US increased on-year by a mere 6.4 percent to 512.3 billion won ($358.9 million) in second quarter. Last year, the figure had spiked 25.7 percent compared to 2020. Noting that l

Duty-free shops eye Southeast Asia, use Hallyu marketing to attract broader consumer base