Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sojusucks]

I don't think this will impact Costco's business because Costco has so many people shopping its stores that there's even "spillover." Spillover is a business term for customers who can't get in or shop elsewhere because a business is so busy they can't handle any more customers. In fact, I know Koreans who say they don't go to Costco because it's so hard to find a parking spot. The Lotte store will thrive even if Koreans don't take to it because many Japanese and Chinese tourists enjoy shopping at Lotte stores in Seoul.

[dairyairy]

[atwood]

[Weigookin74]

Maybe if Costco is so crowded, they should build some new stores. This is especially true outside of Seoul. Went to Daejeon Costco. Going there on a Saturday is extremely annoying. They could prob use a second one to handle the overflow or at least move out to some regional cities where some of these out of towners are coming from. As for Lotte, I'd be pretty skeptical. They'd have to work hard to get the international contacts. Otherwise, if they just sell rice and kimchi, what else is there to make them any different than anywhere else?

[timhorton]

So, I went to costco today-yangjae. I have been there many times and it's still a complete cluster**** from entry to exit. I swear they should put those carts on tracks or something! I even arrived before opening on a weekday! It's like going to the zoo with all cage doors open at feeding time!

On a lighter note, some adjumma at the onion grinder cranked it so hard that the handle came off - broken!! haha

[minos]

[fosterman]

70% of the shoppers at costco are buying products they can by at emart!
so why are they there!??
really pisses me off they are just taking up space for nothing. so they can feel like they are in America for an hour.
and then they can get the free onions.

if a store wants to beat Costco they have to go 95% foreign products.
I mean American flags, American music, American looking inside.
really hit it home.
this will get all the foreign community, and then all the Koreans who lived abroad, and then the sheep will follow as they always do.

first win the expats then you will get the curious Koreans.

Emart traders, vic, are just bigger versions of Homeplus and similar concept to costco without the foreign element. they are targeting Koreans because they are figuring out their cost control and forecasting sales based on Korean products. they are not taking a risk. so don't expect to see anything new.

if It was me, I would go all Foreign products, a super store the size of costco, with all the products from the foreign shops in Itaewon, and everything else I import on an epic scale.
I really think it would be a success. but will take tens of millions of dollars to start.

[atwood]

[alongway]

[cdninkorea]

[sojusucks]

I made it to Lotte Vic Market this week and here�s my very thorough report.
I went hoping to find a store that would be an option for Costco and I was very disappointed.
There�s no English, or Japanese,in this store except in the food court area. There�s no English on the shelves and only a few words on some signs. It�s important to note this first because you will have to sign up for a membership. If you don�t know Korean you could be confused. There are no English language forms so the best thing to do is just hand your ARC to the employees to fill in the form for you.
The first floor has some jewelry but the rest of the floor is stocked with household goods you can buy at any Lottemart. There are a few things worth mentioning. There�s a small section with vitamins and supplements- all Korean- that include Saw Palmetto, for those who need it. Also, the soda section is weak, very weak, with plenty of Korean sodas, in those small Korean can sizes, with only cases of Coke and Dr. Pepper in full-size cans.
Then, you take the escalator up to the 2nd floor. That�s the food floor. Naturally, there�s plenty of winse, beer, and soju, while the bakery is on your left. They tried to copy the Costco cookies and donuts by size and price, but the cookies are much smaller than Costco cookies. I didn�t buy any muffins but they were at least the same size and price as Costco. The sweet potato pies looked good, again, same price and size as Costco, but other pies looked terrible, and some even appeared to be burnt around the edges.
The snack section includes Pop Tarts, 48 for 19,390, but the rest is very weak. There are more snack choices at any Lottemart. It seems like this section was an afterthought. That�s surprising since this is supposed to be a Costco clone store and we all know Costco has many snack food choices.
The frozen section isn�t too bad. There�s a better selection than other parts of the store, including something called Kraze Burger beef stew 1.7 KG for 29,800. The hot dogs are the same brands and prices as Costco.There�s a decent selection of frozen vegetables like mixed vegetables, peas, corn, and also fruit like peaches and pineapples.
The canned goods were roughly the same as Costco with those canned tomatoes you see at Costco and 3 cans of Heinz Beanz for 6,200. The coffee includes the usual instant coffee and some ground coffee like a 1 KG AngelinUs coffee for 38,900.
The cheese selection is very good with Gouda, Edam, feta, and others. The foreign brand for most is Lemnos, for any Aussies out there who miss that taste of home.
The produce section was designed like Costco�s produce section but the prices were higher and the chopped salad looked like it was almost ready for the dumpster. BTW, there�s no hummus or healthy dips in the store.
Then we get to the food court. It was the only crowded section of the store. It�s a copy of the Costco food section right down to the soda dispensers and a very large onion dispenser. The onion dispenser reads �Onions� in large English letters, with no Korean words. It stood out in a store that seems to have banned English. The products sold in the food court are roughly the same as Costco. In the interests of science, I volunteered to try three items- bulgogi pizza, the salad, and a chicken bake. The pizza is not good- I�ve had better at 59 Pizza. The salad is just plain awful. It�s in the same container as those at Costco but the salad ingredients don�t even fill up half of the container. Oddly, there�s plenty of chicken, but very little lettuce. The chicken bake was not bad. I would recommend it as the best of a poor lot.
There are just a few things I�d like to add. For some odd reason, nothing appeared to be on sale or on promotion. The products located near the checkout seemed to be set there at random and maybe there was no place for them on the shelves. There were employees yelling in the meat section- definitely a negative for me. The crowd was mainly younger Koreans. Those of us who shop at Costco know that the ajumma are the main Korean shoppers at Costco. I didn�t notice any samples being given out except in the alcohol section. There aren�t any ID photos on the membership cards so it appears that anyone can use them.
Maybe, at some point, they will add more products to make it worth paying 35,000 for a membership, but right now it�s just a glorified Lottemart.

[atwood]

Thanks sojusucks! I saw a woman on the sidewalk yesterday giving out flyers advertising Lotte Vic. I didn't see anyone stopping; I guess she should have been giving out free diced onions.

[atwood]

I saw on the Korean news that Lotte Vic is packing them in, so many in fact that it was causing traffic problems in the area where it's located.

Costco envy at work.

[viciousdinosaur]

Wow there sure cloned the sh*t of Costco. They are shameless. Still, people don't go to Costco for the crap decor and large quantities. They go for rare items and a cheap lunch. Seems Lotte got the cheap lunch bit down, but rare items?

Remember something called the "silk road"?
That's when people would walk halfway around the friggin planet, risking their lives, just to bring back some stupid tea and silk from China.

Why do people suffer through the discomfort that is Costco? Well for me it's the chance to buy quality olive oil and frozen salmon.

[xhaktmtjdnf]

It's interesting to read about Lotte opening a warehouse store more choice in foreign foods would be great. I don't think anyone owns the idea of a warehouse store so I think pronouncements that Lotte "copied" or "cloned" are a bit of a stretch. Doksan is far from my home so I doubt I will ever step foot in the store, but I wouldn't worry about Costco going out of business, they seem to be doing good business in Korea. People in Korea seem to care about good deals and selection rather than the name on the store, in my opinion.