"New Semester Season Begins"... Retail Industry Discount Battle

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] Ahead of the new semester, the retail industry has launched large-scale discount events. With both in-person and remote classes expected to be held concurrently, the range of discounted items has expanded beyond new semester supplies such as bags and stationery to include home office furniture and digital appliances.

Lotte Department Store has set the new semester theme as 'Fresh New Start' until the 4th of next month, offering various benefits both online and offline along with spring new semester promotional products.

The North Face Kids and Hazzys Kids are holding discounts on backpack sets. The North Face Kids is offering a 10% discount on the Kids Wide Protection School Pack. Hazzys Kids is running a 30% discount event on selected items and giving a pencil case as a gift when purchasing a backpack set. Fila offers an L-holder set with backpack purchases, and with Carbon backpack purchases, an L-holder set and a washable mask set (mask, strap, filter) are given in limited quantities per store. The North Face White Label is running a 10% discount event on new semester bag purchases until the 31st of next month.

As a gift event, until the 25th, customers who purchase over 200,000 KRW in a single brand of fashion and accessories such as new semester bags and spring new clothing on the same day will receive a mobile gift certificate worth approximately 7.5% through the Lotte Department Store application.

Emart is offering up to 30% discounts on home office furniture, digital appliances, and stationery until the 2nd of next month. 'Decoline County Desk Set' and 'Decoline County Auxiliary Bookshelf' are sold at 30% off the original price. The 'Sidiz T40 Home Office Chair' is an Emart exclusive model and offers an additional 10% discount during the event period. All 'Prism Stand' products are sold at a 20% discount, and famous brand chairs such as Sidiz and Linback offer 10-20% discounts when purchased with event cards.

Digital appliances are also discounted. All Apple iPad and MacBook products are sold at a 5% discount when paying with event cards at A-store affiliated stores. The 'LG Gram 17' is an Emart exclusive model priced at 1,990,000 KRW, and when purchasing the 'Samsung Galaxy Book Ion2 (1,569,000 KRW)', a set of four essential accessories including a double webcam and charging storage kit is additionally provided. When purchasing event laptops, there is also a benefit of purchasing genuine MS Office software at a discounted price.

Homeplus is holding the 'Friend, Let's Go to School! New Semester Item Special Exhibition' at all stores nationwide and online until the 28th. Over 200 stationery items such as name pens, magic markers, board markers, knives, and scissors are offered at uniform prices of 1,000 to 3,000 KRW, and about 60 3M stationery items such as tape and indexes are offered at uniform prices of 2,000 to 3,000 KRW. Craft teaching material sets are discounted 20-60%, priced between 7,190 and 29,900 KRW. Popular character stationery collections such as Shinbi Apartment and Among Us are sold for 990 to 9,990 KRW. The 700-sheet set of Jongnara colored paper is priced at 7,900 KRW, and three types including seven sketchbooks and ten notebooks are offered at a 50% discount, each priced at 4,990 KRW.

Home office furniture and appliances are also discounted. LED study stands are 40% off at 29,900 KRW, and three types of Homeplus Signature Mild Drawer Cabinets are discounted by 10,000 KRW, priced at 29,900 KRW and 32,900 KRW respectively. Four types of handle movable 3-tier trolleys are sold at 34,900 KRW. Two types of Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse sets are discounted by 10,000 KRW each, priced at 29,900 KRW and 39,900 KRW. When paying with event cards, the iMuz Stormbook 14 is discounted by 20,000 KRW to 299,000 KRW, the iMuz MuPad L10 set is sold at 199,000 KRW, and a 10,000 KRW Homeplus gift certificate is given when purchasing iMuz laptops or tablet PCs. The iMuz StormView 24-inch monitor is discounted by 30,000 KRW to 99,000 KRW, and the Epson infinite ink multifunction printer is discounted by 10,000 KRW to 209,000 KRW. When purchasing appliances with event cards, customers can receive up to 7% cashback benefits and gift certificates according to the purchase amount.

CJ O Shopping will showcase children's complete book sets, English speaking materials, and reading programs through TV home shopping and online malls until the 14th of next month. The 'Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) Future Pack' broadcast at 12:35 PM on the 23rd is digital English learning content published by the University of Oxford Press in the UK, allowing learning anywhere via mobile devices. It supports simultaneous access on up to four devices. This material, used by over 80% of UK elementary schools, helps learners naturally acquire core grammar covered in the domestic regular curriculum and features both American and British pronunciations. During the broadcast, a workbook booklet usable exclusively with ORT is also provided by CJ O Shopping.

For parents concerned about selecting age-appropriate books, the Biryoongso 'Book Club Beaver' reading program product will be broadcast at 12:35 PM on the 26th. This is a CJ O Shopping exclusive product introducing the March issue for the new semester special exhibition. It provides four books monthly, selected by a children's selection committee from age-appropriate must-reads for ages 4 to 2nd grade elementary school students, along with workbooks, all supervised by experts.

Asung Daiso is also conducting a 'New Semester Supplies Special Exhibition.' This exhibition consists of about 200 products including stationery, office supplies, storage items, and computer accessories for students preparing for the new semester and people engaged in remote classes or telecommuting. New semester products for elementary students range from stationery to hygiene products. Items such as 'stand microphones' and 'pin microphones (for PC)' used for video conferences or remote classes, and 'USB 4-port hubs' connecting multiple devices are also available.