Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dimnd]

I know Walmart is out of Korea but did they crop up as another name and does anyone know where there is one in Seoul area?

[kprrok]

Thank the Lord! WAL-MART is gone! They left Korea b/c they couldn't figure out how to run a business here!

Praise be to God! WAL-MART is gone!!!!!

But no, you can't find one still. Go to E-Mart or Home Plus or any of the other dozen department stores you can find. Wal-Mart blows goats and if you're desparate for one, it says something about you.

KPRROK

[Drew345]

I went over to the Walmart in Gangnam. Yep, there gone, changed to an E-mart there. The store looked exactly the same, just had a few more dancing girls inside. And man it was packed. Koreans just like that E-mart name and the dancing girls. Such a shame, Even China has huge Walmarts (in Nanjing) with all kinds of international goods, but Korea can't support even one.
Drew

[Wrench]

OH NO there goes the only descent bagels in Korea. Stupid emart now will be making carbage.

[dimnd]

I liked the Mainstay brand you could by for home stuff...closet space stuff, etc..

where is the closest e-mart to Mokdong..does anyone know...I went to Home Ever and I didn't care for the store much..but e-mart is alright...

[mindmetoo]

[tiger fancini]

[eamo]

[Dev]

I liked Wal-Mart Korea because it was one of the few places where you could buy real American bacon. Their electronics were cheaper than Emart & Home Plus.

When I talk to Koreans about Wal-Mart, some of them are proud that Koreans stopped the goliath Wal-Mart from growing here. I guess Wal-Mart didn't deserve to succeed here because they failed to offer cheaper prices than the competition.

[SeoulnPepe]

We still have Costco.

[Wrench]

[Dev]

[charlieDD]

WalMart and Carrefour decided within weeks of each other to give up on the Korean market to focus their resources on China. Carrefour also pulled out of Japan. Korea and Japan were considered mature, saturated markets and thus proved too difficult for an outside upstart to get a hold. Walmart is doing well in Japan, though, by buying up established supermarket names, like Seiyu.

In Korea, both tried doing it alone, without a Korean partner, and that seems to be what did them in. That and trying to offer discount prices to people who prefer to pay premium prices and have all the dancing girls and promoting girls, etc. TESCO has done well by partnering up with Samsung and leaving the vast majority of the management to Koreans in Korea, and running their stores Korean style.

Neither WalMart nor Carrefour left Korea licking their wounds: quite the opposite. They were both sitting on prime real estate they bought after the '97 crisis at good prices and were able to sell their stores / land for very significant profits. (I believe Carrefour came out close to $2 billion in hand when they left.) They could have kept slugging it out in Korea, or cashed in their chips and moved on to a richer pot game. They made the logical choice.

They are now battling it out in China and India, developing markets. WalMart is apparently the winner so far in China, with 60+ stores and about to buy a chain of 100+ established stores. Carrefour has something like 40 stores in China. WalMart has just announced they have partnered with an Indian firm and will enter the Indian market within months. Carrefour's going to partner with a Dubai company to enter the Indian market.

While they were open in Korea, it was noted that they were operating on far lower margins than the Korean superstores. I believe I read Carrefour was operating on a 3.6% margin and the average margin for Korean department store/ superstores is over 6%, with, I believe I read, Lotte leading at 8%. (My details might be off; but . . you get the main idea.) The idea is that they were offering lower prices, but . . .

[mindmetoo]

[jajdude]