Consumers cut back, says KCCI

Rising consumer prices have forced shoppers to hunt for bargains and cut back on overall spending, a poll by a local economic organization showed yesterday.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry poll conducted on 500 households nationwide showed the vast majority of consumers only buying products that are on sale, seeking cheaper products and making small-volume purchases.

It added that people have also migrated to cheaper product brands to reduce outlays with 94.0 percent saying they were more conscious of prices than a year earlier.

“The rise in consumers prices that has made goods more expensive is causing people to become more price conscious,” the KCCI said. The latest findings showed 90 percent of the households polled buying products that were on sale, with 94 percent and 86 percent, respectively, seeking cheaper goods or brands.

Of those surveyed, 69 percent said they stayed away from purchasing products in bulk and 89.6 percent of the respondents took advantage of promotional events to buy products at lower prices. Yonhap