In the Middle of the Mart, Chanel and Louis Vuitton Bags... Emart's 'Overseas Luxury Goods Fair'

E-mart Yeongdeungpo Store Instagram post. (Photo by Instagram)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Products from overseas luxury brands, which were previously only seen in high-end stores such as department stores, are now entering large supermarkets. As luxury consumption has become more popular and increased recently, large supermarkets located close to daily life have started selling overseas luxury goods.

According to the distribution industry on the 21st, Emart has been holding the ‘Overseas Luxury Brand Fair’ event at five stores including Emart Gwangju and Jukjeon since July. The Overseas Luxury Brand Fair is an event where Emart offers up to 60% discounts on ultra-high-end bags and accessories from overseas luxury brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes through parallel import companies.

Emart plans to hold the event for three days each at Wangsimni and Yeongdeungpo stores at the end of this month and early next month. The event will showcase products from more than 10 brands including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci, Prada, and Mulberry. Some products like Chanel are vintage collections and are secondhand items. Emart will review the progress of the event and decide whether to expand it in the future.

An Emart official explained the background of the event planning, saying, “This year, with overseas travel blocked due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), domestic luxury consumption has increased, so we made luxury goods more accessible at large supermarkets.”

Although the purpose of the event is to make luxury goods more easily accessible to consumers, Emart is also enjoying a significant customer attraction effect through this event.

Large supermarkets like Emart have been going through difficult times this year due to the impact of COVID-19. Customer visits to offline stores have significantly decreased due to concerns about COVID-19 infection. Nevertheless, large-scale customer attraction events cannot be planned due to the COVID-19 situation, and if extensive promotional activities are carried out, they may face public backlash.

However, the overseas luxury discount event naturally spread by word of mouth through online channels, leading customers to visit large supermarkets. In fact, during the event held at Emart Gwangju in August, many customers gathered to the extent that the store had to distribute numbered tickets despite no special promotional activities.

Some products priced over 7 million won were comfortably accessible at large supermarkets, which are usually hard to find, resulting in positive customer responses. Also, the upcoming events at Wangsimni and Yeongdeungpo stores next month have already spread by word of mouth through online communities despite no special promotions.

A distribution industry official said, “When duty-free luxury goods inventory was released to the market last summer, many consumers who could not spend money on overseas travel due to COVID-19 started spending on luxury goods, lining up from early morning,” adding, “Unlike in the past, perceptions of luxury goods have become more popular, so marketing activities using luxury goods are expected to take place throughout the industry.”