South Korean retailers are offering Black Friday bargains to lure local consumers who are buying Samsung TVs and foreign goods overseas with just the click of a mouse.
Local department stores and e-commerce sites have launched sales ― with up to 60 percent off ― ahead of U.S. retail sales on Friday, challenged by the increasing popularity of direct-buying at foreign e-commerce sites.
“Many retailers are afraid of losing young consumers, who go to U.S. websites to buy Samsung and LG’s electronic devices and luxury goods, which are also sold at Seoul department stores,” said Lee Ki-won, a marketing manager at Hyundai Home Shopping.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaching, they were growing even more worried.
An increasing number of people here have been posting online about deals they have gotten on expensive appliances. Buying the products overseas allows them to dodge local retailers’ high markups.
They claim that they can pay much less for the same or similar products at foreign websites, as South Korean electronics-makers charge higher prices on their home turf.
Adding to the fever, U.S. online retailers, such as Amazon.com, are expected to steal a march on local stores, as they have been offering a week of discounts in the runup to the biggest shopping days of the year.
Samsung’s 55-inch Smart LED TV, for example, is currently being sold for $797.99 on Amazon through a Black Friday promotion, including free shipping and 30-day tech support service.
At home, the lowest price for the same model was 1.23 million won ($1,112) on Thursday, though the price was falling as Black Friday grew nearer.
The same was the case with LG Electronics’ products. LG’s 84-inch Cinema 3-D 4K Ultra HDTV was being sold for $6,199 on Amazon, while the cheapest price here was $9,602.
“The more I know about the benefits of buying products overseas, the more I feel like I was a fool in the past, paying twice as much for the same thing,” said Jason Moon, 34, a local consumer.
Samsung and LG explained that the higher prices at domestic stores include delivery and installation fees, as well as taxes.
“It also has to do with culture. When buying a product, South Korean consumers think they’re buying service along with it. They expect to receive top quality after-sales service and free installation services,” an LG Electronics spokesman said.
“It’s inevitable that the pricing differs in each region and each country.”
By Suk Gee-hyun (
monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)
