SOUTH KOREA. Duty-free retail sales nationwide (excluding inflight retail) rose by +29.6% month-on-month in March to almost KRW1.2 trillion (US$858 million). However, that represents a drop of -2.88% on March 2023 despite a +56.7% year-on-year (+7.9% month-on-month) increase in shoppers to 2,304,003.
Such disparities are explained by the Korea Customs Service crackdown on the reselling sector last year.
“Due to the increase of foreign visitors, sales increased over February but still decreased from 2023,” a senior Korean travel retail executive told The Moodie Davitt Report.
“At the same time I guess the daigou business is still in operation with retailers struggling to detour the KCS regulation.” ✈
