Store sales continue to rise

Department store sales rose for a second month in March, the latest sign that spending may be picking up.
Sales at Korea’s three biggest department store chains ― Shinsegae, Lotte and Hyundai ― climbed 4.1 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said yesterday. Sales rose 4.7 percent in February, the biggest gain in eight months.
“The rise in sales suggests that consumer spending hasn’t cooled too seriously and that it’s likely to expand further in coming months,” said Lee Sang-jae, an economist at Hyundai Securities Co. in Seoul.
Consumers became the most optimistic in a year in the first quarter, and services companies, such as insurers and transport operators, expanded output at the fastest pace in 13 months in February.
Sales at discount stores gained 3.6 percent in March, compared with a 25.3 percent increase in February, when shoppers flocked to stores ahead of the Lunar New Year, one of the nation’s two most-celebrated holidays. In March, shoppers bought more luxury goods from department stores, as well as computers, clothes and stationery ahead of the new school year, yesterday’s report showed.