Refer Report
It was revealed that more than half of this year’s Chuseok gift sets from large marts and department stores are mid- to low-priced products priced between 10,000 and 40,000 won. It was also confirmed that one out of ten gift sets with the same product composition as last year’s Lunar New Year went up in price.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency on the prices of 895 Chuseok gift sets, including canned goods and daily necessities, from three large marts (Lotte Mart, E-Mart, and Homeplus) and three department stores (Lotte, Shinsegae, and Hyundai Department Store) on the 2nd, 54.3% (486 types) were priced between 10,000 and 40,000 won. While the number of products in this price range increased by 7.5% compared to the previous Lunar New Year, the number of high-priced products priced over 50,000 won decreased by 27.9%.
The aftereffects of the high-price era were also evident. Of the 283 gift sets with the same product composition as the last Lunar New Year six months ago, 32 (11.3%) went up in price. By item, health functional foods (up to 57.5%) and seaweed (up to 56.3%) went up the most, while daily necessities (up to 32.9%), alcohol (up to 23.1%), and canned goods (up to 12.9%) also went up significantly.
Among the 24 types of products that are sold in both hypermarkets and department stores, 22 (91.7%) were found to be 20-30% cheaper in hypermarkets than in department stores. Even when the three hypermarkets sold the same products, there were many cases where the prices before and after discounts were significantly different between the three marts. Even for the same canned goods gift set, the price before discounts differed by up to 21,400 won, and in some cases, the price after discounts differed by 11,570 won. Department stores had prices of up to 56,000 won for alcoholic beverages.
The Korea Consumer Agency said, “Consumers should carefully compare discount information and components when purchasing holiday gift sets.”
Reporter Lim Jae-woo abbado@hani.co.kr
Source: Korean