RETAIL INDUSTRY SEES SPIKE IN SALES

[Anchor Lead]

It will not be easy for Koreans to visit their families on the lunar New Year’s holiday this year as the social distancing rules prohibit gatherings of more than five people. Experiencing a windfall from the disease control measure is the retail industry that saw a spike in sales as people decided to send gifts instead of visiting their relatives. Also, the price limit on gifts stipulated in the anti-bribery law has been raised temporarily to 200,000 won, driving up the sales of high-end gifts.

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Various gift sets for the lunar New Year holiday take up a whole aisle in this store. Retailers were worried about sales decline during last year’s Chuseok holiday when an unprecedented social-distancing rule was imposed to contain COVID-19. It’s a different story for the upcoming lunar New Year holiday weekend. Retailers saw sales of gift items soar as an increasing number of people decided to send gifts to their families instead of visiting them,

[Soundbite] Song Hye-suk(Daejeon Resident) : "We can’t visit our relatives, so I plan to send them small gifts."

One supermarket franchise analyzed its advance orders for Seollal gift sets and found its sales up by 69% compared to the previous lunar New Year holiday.

[Soundbite] Jin Gyeong-su(Supermarket Asst. Manager) : "Sales have gone up substantially compared to last year’s Chuseok. I think it is the result of having to spend these holidays at home."

High-end gifts are selling briskly as well. The government has temporarily raised the price limit on gifts set under the anti-bribery act to 200,000 won. A higher price limit has led to more than a two-fold spike in sales of expensive gifts like Korean beef, wine and tilefish. In order to cater to the changing consumer needs, the retail industry expanded its selection of luxury gifts such as Korean beef, dried yellow corvina, and Shine Muscat grapes.

[Soundbite] Son Seon-nam(Manager, Department Store Food Section) : "Since they cannot express gratitude in person, people tend to select and send more expensive gifts than before."

To keep pace with a culture promoting non-contact activities, retailers are also focusing their marketing efforts to meet the rising demand for mobile gift certificates transacted via smartphones.