Health and beauty store chain CJ Olive Young plans to go beyond brick-and-mortar retail and transform itself into an “omnichannel platform” that connects e-commerce with offline retail, ahead of its plans to go public next year. “No one inside the company defines Olive Young as a health and beauty store. We see our brand as an omnichannel platform,” Olive Young CEO Koo Chang-geun said at a press event at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on Friday. The renewed push to

Consumer Dec. 12, 2021

The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea elected a new board chair and three new members to lead the group next year, the organization said Friday. Following the annual election, the AMCHAM Board of Governors is now made up of 41 members, including seven women. This is the largest and most diverse group in the organization’s history, it said. Henry An, Senior Partner at Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, was elected chairman of the board. He will replace former Chairman Jeffrey Jones who

Industry Dec. 10, 2021

Business leaders in the cosmetics and beauty industry shared their thoughts on the growth potential of K-beauty on Thursday, at Trade Week 2021, a four-day global conference organized by the Seoul Business Agency to offer support for small and medium-sized enterprises in Seoul.  L’Oreal’s Chief Digital Officer Lee Seon-young kicked off the seminar, explaining how digitalization is changing the company’s business strategy. “We do not think the rise in online busine

Consumer Dec. 9, 2021

Korea’s No. 1 milk producer by market share, Seoul Dairy Cooperative is under fire for objectifying women and portraying voyeurism in its latest video advertisement for its organic milk products. The 52-second video shows people, most of whom are presumably women, dressed in white drinking water from a stream and relaxing in a green meadow somewhere in Gangwon Province.  In the next scene, a man quietly approaches with a video camera from the cover of trees. He steps on a branch an

Consumer Dec. 9, 2021

Honeymoons were canceled, business trips were pushed back and vacation plans were postponed indefinitely for the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic forced countries to tighten border control and decimated air travel. As vaccination rates rise and countries slowly open their borders under travel bubble agreements, travel will bounce back in 2022, but will take a different form, says Paul Melkebeke, Samsonite’s president for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. “People wi

Consumer Dec. 8, 2021

Cosmetic store workers of Chanel Korea said Tuesday they would walk off from their jobs for an indefinite period from Dec. 17 if the French luxury brand fails to pay overdue wages and take steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.  Union members representing 390 store workers at 85 cosmetics boutiques of Chanel held a press conference Tuesday in front of the firm’s office in Jung-gu, central Seoul.  The members are part of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, a

Consumer Dec. 7, 2021

Coffee chains, food companies and the milk industry are seeing oat milk as a new alternative to dairy, as the industry tries to appeal to a growing number of health-conscious consumers and the budding vegan trend in South Korea. While oat milk is considered a common alternative to typical dairy milk in countries like the United States and Europe, the drink is relatively new here in Korea.  Leading the local oat milk trend here is, ironically, the milk industry.  In a country where

Consumer Dec. 6, 2021

Prices of groceries and nonalcoholic beverages in Korea rose 5 percent on-year in the July-September period, marking the fifth-largest increase among OECD nations, data showed Sunday. According to data from Statistics Korea and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, prices of food and beverages grew even higher last month on-year at 6.1 percent on the back of strong price increases of agricultural and processed products. The quarterly price growth of food and beverages w

Consumer Dec. 5, 2021

An advertisement campaign from Daesang took home two honors at the Korea Advertising Awards this year, according to the food company on Sunday. Founded in 1994, the Korea Advertising Awards are considered the most prestigious awards in the industry here. Some 2,000 advertisements are submitted for consideration each year, the organizers said. An advertisement series of Daesang’s “Anjuya” products -- ready-made side dishes to be paired with alcohol -- received two nominatio

Consumer Dec. 5, 2021

Samsung Electronics and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a 30 billion won ($25.4 million) fund supporting smaller tech firms here. Samsung and the ministry are contributing 15 billion won each with the aim of supporting research work for locally-developed materials, parts and equipment for the next five years between 2022 and 2026. “In order to respond to changes in this new normal era, innovation should occur not at a compa

Industry Dec. 1, 2021

Laos is fast emerging as a land of opportunity for land developers, ahead of a highly anticipated launch of a new high-speed train connecting the Southeast Asian country with China next month. The Thatluang Lake Special Economic Zone, the only economic zone in the capital city of Vientiane, in particular, is expected to benefit, providing a boost for the local economy and luring foreign investors. Korean real estate investment firm D&C Mineun held a weeklong promotional seminar on Nov.

Industry Nov. 30, 2021

Burger King issued an apology Friday, after a plastic wrapper was found inside a burger sold at one of its stores in Sejong. “Burger King would like to sincerely apologize to the customer for the inconvenience,“ the US burger chain said in a statement. ”We are currenly investigating how the substance got into the food. Burger King will increase efforts to improve the quality of our products and services.“ On Thursday, a male customer told local media he found a she

Consumer Nov. 26, 2021

  Lotte Group has hired Kim Sang-hyun, former vice president of market rival Homeplus, to lead Lotte Shopping, which controls all the group’s retail business, officials said Thursday. The group’s hotel department will be led by Ahn Se-jin, former CEO of the Korean restaurant chain Nolboo. Kim Gyo-hyun, former head of Lotte Chemical, was promoted to vice president in recognition of his achievements in restoring the fortunes of the group’s chemical business to pre-pandemic

Consumer Nov. 25, 2021

Samsung Biologics and Boston-based biotech firm GreenLight Biosciences have teamed up to help make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to people in poor countries, especially in Africa, the Korean pharmaceutical company said Thursday.  Under a contract manufacturing deal signed earlier in the day, Samsung Biologics will produce drug substances for GreenLight’s messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.  The drugmaking unit of Samsung Group said it is adding new production facilit

Industry Nov. 25, 2021

SK Group’s chemical unit SKC, food company Daesang and trading company LX International have forged a joint venture to develop and distribute a petroleum-based biodegradable plastic called PBAT, the companies said Tuesday. SKC will contribute 104 billion won ($87.5 million), while Daesang and LX will provide 40 billion won and 36 billion won, respectively, for the joint venture. Once commercialization starts, the joint venture will become the second-largest manufacturer of the material

Industry Nov. 23, 2021