Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Blinky Bill]

Hi, to everyone. I have been in Korea for the last 18 months. My wife is Korean, I live in Jinju, and I will be hanging around a while. Do not post often, but have an interest in the information posted on this forum.
I work for a reading and listening franchise company, with my wife, in Jinju. For me, the work has limited hours so I volunteer at a Welfare center in Jinju, twice a week, and also assist the Jinju City Council with English advertising, slogans, sign boards etc.

I like to cook/bake western type meals for my Korean family, Korean friends and my Korean students. They all enjoy the new taste experiences of western styly meals. But, like many of you, I have found it difficult to find the ingredients required to prepare western meals for myself and others. I am not a great fan of Korean food, I eat it often, but I like a bit of variety.

I have recently had some things sent to me from America from an on-line shopping service, the service was good, but I thought the prices too high. I also had my sister send me some things from Australia, but the postage was twice as much as the price of the goods.

So, that is a bit of background, now let me get to my question.

The Korean man I meet with at the Jinju City Council informed me that he also runs the grocery shopping site, www.grocerymall.net, but he is finding it difficult to manage. He has asked me if I would like to manage it.

If I were to take this on, there is information from you guys, that I would like to know. There is also information that I have read previously from you guys about western grocery items in Korea.

1. There are already supermarkets in Korea that supply a lot of western grocery items. However, a lot of foreigners do not live in large cities with these supermarkets close at hand.

2. The prices of a lot of western grocery items are too high in Korea.

3. A lot of foreigners are here for a year, or less, and move on.

4. Many foreigners do not have the cooking facilities (ovens) to warrant the use of this service.

I am trying to gather information for myself to see if this "grocerymall"
would be viable.

Could you please advise me,

If you would use this service, is it warranted?

What types of grocery items would you like from such a service?

Any suggestions, as to how a site like this would be successful?

To finish, I would advise that I am not intending this to be a major business venture. The profit margin on these goods must be small. it will be about quantity of goods sold not price. I know that I want some of these grocery items as cheap as possible and maybe there are others who want the same.

Sorry about this post being so long, but I need to find out if their is a market, I will not rush into it. Plan carefully, or fingers will get burnt.

[rothkowitz]

link doesn't work

[nene]

The link doesn't work, but yes I'd definitely be interested in such a service.

[Blinky Bill]

I tried it too, doesn't work. I don't know why. But, I typed it in my search engine and got the site.

[stumptown]

Honestly, I've most of what's advertised there at most of the larger stores like Carrefour, Homeplus, Walmart et al. The prices are similar but why not try to tap into something more unique like cold cut lunch meats maybe some REAL ham and turkey, salami, some nice hoagie rolls, sliced cheese. There's a deli like that in the Volvo building in Hannam but the selection's not that great. Anyway, can you find Chorizo sausage...not the dried hard kind, the sodt mushy kind for burritos.
Cheers

[Blinky Bill]

I should have mentioned from the start.

I did not set up the "grocerymall" web site. As yet, I have no management of this site. I have been asked to manage it.

As for the "grocermall" site, I think that the prices are too high and that there is not enough variety.

That is why I want your input. My thoughts are that this will not be a big profit making business, but I do not want to lose money either.

Prices depends on importing the goods, and delivery costs. But their has to be a need (market) first.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I used grocerymall.net serves for a couple of years and was always satisfied with the service. I made an order last fall and after a couple of days received a phone call saying the company had discontinued service. I hope this post means it is back in service.

I even went to Jinju once to pay a visit to his store. It turned out there was no store...just a freezer and a couple of shelves on the apartment balcony. Nice people.

The suggestions I would make:

a) Go for variety. By that I mean offer what the grocery stores do not have. For example, western peas. Kitchen Bouquet. Boullion. Lasagna noodles.

b) Try not to offer 10 pounds of Swiss cheese. I am much more interested in 1 pound at a time. I always hated having frozen cheese filling up my freezer. In general, avoid the restaurant-size packaging. Single people just can't use up a quart jar of cayenne pepper in any reasonable amount of time.

c) Deli meats is a great idea.

d) I'm not a fan, but I've heard many people yearn for dill pickles.

Please post again if this thing takes off. (I always thought he should advertize...like maybe send an e-mail to all the hakwons outside of Seoul and ask the receiver to pass the word along to all foreign employees.)

Good luck.

[pet lover]

the link doesn't work because you have a comma at the end of the link. Erase the comma and it should work just fine.

If I were to stay in Korea, I'd be very interested in seeing vegan items available. This would appeal to vegetarians as well as there are no ingredients in vegan food that be against any vegetarian beliefs (but that doesn't work vice versa). I'm sure that all the veggies in Korea would appreciate veggie items....the Korean veggies as well.

[ttompatz]

[yodanole]

Don't sell dill pickles, sell dill. Pickles are easy to make.