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[wylies99]

Until Wednesday, April 6

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2918660

Marts war over poultry, pizza prices

April 02, 2010
For months, local discount stores have been locked in a price war, often over individual products. That war is now spreading, retail sources say, from packaged goods to poultry and pizza, as chains try to one-up each other with more appealing promotions.

Lotte Mart, the nation�s third-largest discounter after E-Mart and Homeplus, announced yesterday that it would sell a 600-gram (21-ounce) whole fried chicken for 3,980 won ($3.53), half the usual price of 7,980 won, until next Wednesday. Considering the average market price of a whole chicken was 4,729 won as of Monday, that seems like quite a significant price cut.

�The price is striking,� said Lee Min-hyung, a consumer who frequently visits a Lotte Mart branch after work. �If I ever do eat fried chicken this week, I�d better buy it at Lotte Mart. The price is way cheaper than other places, where one costs at least 12,000 won. I wonder how the store cut the price so much.�

To answer Lee�s curiosity, Kim Sang-hyun from Lotte Mart said that the retailer secured contracts to purchase 70,000 chickens last December, �when the market price was 20 percent cheaper than now.�

E-Mart, run by the Shinsegae Group, has taken a different tack, using its huge scale to buy up bulk imported products cheaply and offer them at lower prices. Branches of the store sell four types of frozen pizzas shipped directly from Italy for 6,500 won - the latest in a line of cheap imports that included a TaylorMade Golf r7 Iron for 9,900 won.

�Discount marts are looking for different ways to compete over price, and they�re differentiating themselves by strengthening their merchandising and buying routes,� said an industry official.

This second phase of competition follows the first, in which E-Mart decided to lower the price of a certain number of daily necessities in January. Lotte Mart immediately announced that it would sell the same products at prices 10 won lower than its competitor�s. Experts have called this game of chicken between retailers a lose-lose for the stores involved, with consumers as the only winners.


By Lee Eun-joo [[email protected]]

[ChilgokBlackHole]

I tried it. I ate the drumstick and threw the rest out. If you want to eat cheap food, try packing peanuts.

[Steve_Rogers2008]

but it's a whole fried chicken...... reminds me of the time my friend Jake Blues ordered 4 whole fried chickens, then finished it off with a rubber biscuit.....



still can never forgive those poseurs who thought they could pretend to know the blues....

[BoholDiver]

That's all fine and dandy, but I would much appreciate more reasonable and competitive prices on things like milk, rice, fruit, and vegetables.

[Clockout]

How am i supposed to cook a frozen pizza???

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[Clockout]

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[Clockout]

Just had a thorough look around my kitchen and didn't see anything like what you're describing. Am I missing something?

[blackjack]

why don't you buy one?

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=124114731

I made bread and cheese scones today, while I roasted a chicken last night

[Adam Carolla]