Good Quality at Half the Cost

Green and purple seem to be this year's colors. At some department stores, tags in these two colors signify big savings for customers.

Shinsegae and Lotte Department Stores have both launched sales. Green tags at Shinsegae and purple ones at Lotte can be found on specially priced "joint goods," a new sales concept which offers customers low prices on products of good quality regardless of the store in which they are shopping. In a joint deal, the two department stores are offering the same products at a discount because of the large combined order put to a given supplier.

With stores willing to accept a lower mark-up than the usual 30 percent, prices should be good. Industry watchers see that this will have goods being sold at up to 50 to 60 percent off their regular price.

Shinsegae has under its green color tag grouping about 30 brands for customers to buy. Lotte, using a purple tag, has seen over 30 percent of its goods sold in only 3 business days.

And, with the roaring success of its sales campaign, Shinsegae has had to place more orders for some of these goods which have already sold out such as 'BestiDonna' jackets (600 pieces) and cardigans (1,000 pieces) from 'Ssol.' The amount of special goods is limited due to small profit margins when compared with those of normal goods. "Our customers should get this goods while they're still available," said a Shinsegae spokesperson.

by Cha Jin-yong