"Gift Culture Changed by COVID-19"... Lotte Department Store's Chuseok Pre-Order Sales Up 50%

On the 12th, models are showcasing Chuseok gift sets at the Lotte Department Store main branch in Jung-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Due to the strengthening of social distancing measures, this Chuseok is seeing an increase in demand for sending gifts non-face-to-face rather than gathering the whole family together.

According to Lotte Department Store on the 12th, sales from the pre-order Chuseok gift sales, which began on the 7th of last month, increased by 50% compared to the previous year. The proportion of online sales in total Chuseok gift sales also rose by 4 percentage points to account for 16%.

Lotte Department Store anticipated the non-face-to-face trend in advance and doubled the number of items compared to last Chuseok. In addition to traditional gifts such as galbi (marinated short ribs), gulbi (dried yellow croaker), and apple and pear sets, they are simultaneously showcasing unique products both offline and online. In particular, they strengthened premium products that are of excellent quality even if in smaller quantities rather than large volume products. For meat gift sets, the proportion of high-priced products over 500,000 won increased by more than 40%, recording an 88% high growth during the pre-order sales period.

They also prepared ‘subscription gift sets’ that can be received in small quantities. This allows the recipient to visit a nearby Lotte Department Store anywhere in the country to receive fresh products in portions whenever needed, without the difficulty of storing large amounts of gifts. Representative products include Korean beef set subscription, Food Avenue apple and pear mixed set subscription, and Royal live abalone set subscription.

A Lotte Department Store official said, “As holiday culture has greatly changed due to COVID-19, we have devoted ourselves to planning products and securing quantities that fit this trend. We will strive to ensure that the feelings of those sending gifts are well conveyed even when they cannot visit in person.”

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