Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place... Retail Industry Struggling with 'COVID-19'

Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, the Myeongdong shopping street in Seoul is showing a quiet scene despite it being the weekend on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the impact of COVID-19 continues for an extended period, the retail industry is facing deep concerns. In the early stages of confirmed cases, the retail industry canceled or postponed events one after another to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, as the COVID-19 situation prolonged and the number of customers visiting offline stores drastically decreased, the retail industry found itself in a dilemma, unable to take effective action either way.

According to the retail industry on the 13th, Lotte Duty Free, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary on the 14th, canceled the originally planned commemorative ceremony. Instead, it decided to provide relief supplies to Chinese residents affected by COVID-19 and vulnerable children in Korea. This is a complete reversal from the grand event held during the 30th anniversary in 2010, which was attended by prominent Hallyu stars.

Also, Valentine's Day on the 14th has become difficult to generate special sales as department stores, large marts, hotels, and other industries canceled, postponed, or scaled down their planned events due to the impact of COVID-19. The problem is that the situation has prolonged more than initially expected, causing a sharp decline in customers visiting offline stores, creating an ironic situation where measures are needed to attract customers.

As a desperate measure, some retail companies have started events giving masks to customers. Recently, Lotte Department Store held an event distributing protective masks. This event aimed to attract the reduced number of customers by giving coupons exchangeable for one hand sanitizer or one protective mask per person, per visit, to customers who downloaded the Lotte Department Store application and set their 'My Branch' at the department store's promotional event venue.

Lotte Department Store Busan Main Branch held the event with a limited quantity of 2,000 masks from the 2nd to the 16th, but due to a rush of customers, the event ended early within just four days. The hand sanitizer event, limited to 1,500 units, was scheduled from the 7th to the 23rd but also ended early. Despite Lotte Department Store not actively promoting the event, word of mouth spread through online communities, leading to early termination of the event at all branches nationwide.

As masks became scarce due to COVID-19, more places across the country are encouraging customers to visit stores by offering masks. For example, some Electronic Land stores are currently running events giving masks in limited quantities only to visiting customers.

Some chicken brands have also given masks to customers who visit stores to take out chicken, and even employees at mobile phone dealerships who attract customers on the streets have started holding white masks in their hands. Other small stores are also making every effort to attract store visits by promoting mask giveaways through social networking services (SNS).

Regarding this, a retail industry official said, “The number of customers visiting offline stores has decreased too much, so we need to find alternatives, but large-scale events cannot be held under the current circumstances,” adding, “For the time being, we have to prevent further decline in customer visits through small-scale events and wait for the situation to stabilize.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.