"South Korean Chanel Stores Have Lines Before Opening"…Foreign Media Highlights Korea's Luxury Obsession

Luxury Consumption Ranked 7th Worldwide
Chanel Earned 8.5% of Total Sales in Korea Last Year

Ahead of the price increase of luxury brand Chanel, people lined up in front of the luxury goods hall at the Lotte Department Store main branch in Jung-gu, Seoul, in the morning of May last year.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Foreign media have focused on the sight of Korean shoppers lining up in front of department stores from early morning to buy luxury goods such as Chanel bags.

On the 15th (local time), Bloomberg reported that since last year in Korea, a kind of "open run" has been taking place, where people line up early in front of department stores as soon as the stores open to purchase Chanel handbags priced around $9,500 (11 million KRW).

The outlet analyzed, "Since the COVID-19 pandemic, with limited opportunities for overseas travel and reduced fixed expenses due to social distancing, the queue for Chanel bag shoppers has begun." It also emphasized that despite Chanel Korea raising prices on popular items four times this year, demand has increased even more.

Mr. Jo, a Korean shopper waiting at the department store entrance, said, "Because the brand keeps raising prices, today is the cheapest price," adding, "It's not that you can buy the model you want just because you have money, so the desire for Chanel grows even stronger."

Chanel bag.
Photo by Chanel Korea website capture

Koreans' love for luxury goods is also confirmed by statistics. According to market research firm Euromonitor International, Korea's luxury consumption scale reached $14.2 billion (16.8 trillion KRW), a 4.6% increase from the previous year. This ranks Korea as the 7th largest market in the world, following the United States, Canada, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy.

According to Bloomberg's tally, Chanel earned 8.5% of its total sales from Korea last year. Considering that there are only nine Chanel stores operating in Korea, the sales per store are enormous.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg pointed out, "The rapid rise in housing prices in Korea has led people in their 20s and 30s to a sense of loss that they can never buy a house, which is also a factor in their obsession with luxury goods." It interprets that the younger generation, who values enjoying the present, is pouring the money they had saved for buying a house into purchasing luxury goods instead.

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