[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As Shinsegae Duty Free begins selling duty-free inventory items, consumer interest is heating up.
Starting at 9 a.m. on the 3rd, Shinsegae Duty Free is conducting a reservation sale of 'Fendi' and 'Givenchy' inventory through the 'Wise Luxury Shopping' event on Shinsegae Mall within SSG.com. Brands will be revealed sequentially from this day onward.
The items include a total of 85 products: 43 from Givenchy and 42 from Fendi, mainly consisting of accessories such as bags, hats, wallets, and belts. Discounts range up to 46-47% off the regular price. Only the quantities confirmed through reservations will be actually cleared through customs and sold.
On the same day, Shinsegae Duty Free also started a reservation sale of inventory items from 10 a.m. on the official online mall of Shinsegae International, 'SI Village'. The brands include four: 'Balenciaga', 'Bottega Veneta', 'Saint Laurent', and 'Valentino', with prices ranging from 10% to 50% off the regular price. However, traffic surged more than 20 times the usual volume, causing a server crash as 150,000 users accessed simultaneously.
This duty-free inventory sale is the result of public-private cooperation between the Korea Customs Service and duty-free shops. It has been just over two months since the Korea Customs Service temporarily allowed domestic sales of long-term inventory until October 29, starting April 29. This is one month earlier than the initially expected July. Assuming 20% of the long-term inventory is sold, about 160 billion KRW in liquidity resources are expected to be secured.
An industry insider said, "We view the prompt action positively amid the difficult duty-free industry situation," adding, "Luxury brands must actively cooperate and coexist with the duty-free market in the domestic situation struggling due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)."
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