JTI Korea said Tuesday it is the first global tobacco firm to launch e-cigarettes on Coupang’s platform. The company’s flagship hybrid e-cigarette Ploom Tech will now be available on the South Korean e-commerce giant’s Rocket Delivery service. To celebrate the launch, JTI said it will offer a 50 percent discount for all users buying the bundle set -- Ploom Tech Starter Kit, which contains a battery, a USB charger and an adapter, a mouth piece and a carrying case -- at 17,500

BAT Korea said Monday it will kick off a promotional event for its latest product Glo Pro and Glo Series 2 Mini, offering them at discounted prices on its website and at convenience stores. BAT Korea said it planned the event to mark the successful launch of Glo Pro and to express appreciation to online customers. The tobacco maker said it is starting the event at its official website from Monday, and for convenience stores across the country from June 29. From the website, customers can

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco said Monday its smart factory support program for small and medium-sized enterprises has been seeing positive outcomes, such as in their revenue growth. Since 2013, Posco has been running its “Productivity Innovation Program” initiative to assist SMEs in building their “smart” capacity. As of last year, the company said it had supported 1,094 companies with investments worth 22.8 billion won ($19 million). The companies in

Market Kurly said Friday that 315 people linked to a COVID-19 case at its logistic center have all tested negative for the disease. The online grocery platform had one virus infection case involving a part-time worker at one of its logistics centers in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on May 27, which prompted the company to conduct the round of virus tests on employees and visitors at the center. Market Kurly and the government sorted out and designated 315 people linked to the center and had them tested

LS Cable & System said Friday it won a contract worth 100 billion won ($82 million) to supply electrical cables in Singapore. Under the deal, LS C&S will provide high- and low-voltage cables that will stretch 400 kilometers through Singapore, through 2021. The company said it has a strong foothold in Singapore, obtaining the biggest market share there. The orders have been placed by the Singaporean government to replace aged high-voltage cables for consecutive years since 2017. Th

E-mart Traders said Friday it will roll out 20 million single-use face masks, selling them at a price of 320 won (26 cents) per mask. The warehouse hypermarket store, which is part of the country’s retail giant Shinsegae Group, said it will sell a box of 50 face masks for 15,980 won at its 18 stores across the country from Saturday. Purchases will be limited to one box per person. E-mart Traders said it was able to sell the product -- a three-layered face mask with a melt-blown filter

Gmarket Global Shop, an e-commerce platform operated by eBay, held an autograph session for Korean singer Kim Woo-seok via video call, receiving positive comments from global fans as events are being canceled due to COVID-19 outbreak, the firm said Thursday. The event was hosted to celebrate the release of Kim’s first solo album “1st Desire (Greed)” on Sunday. As many concerts and physical events are being canceled due to the novel coronavirus outbreak across the world, the

The rapid growth of e-commerce giant Coupang has been clipped recently upon the recent outbreak of COVID-19 infections at its logistics centers in addition to sudden deaths of its workers in the past months. On Wednesday, a civic group filed a complaint against Coupang’s founder and CEO Kim Bom-suk, claiming that his firm failed to inform customers properly about the COVID-19 cases of its employees. The civic group, named “People’s livelihood solution committee (directly tr

SPC Group said Wednesday it will open a Shake Shack store in Daegu in July, its first in the city. According to the company, the new Daegu store will be located in Dongseongno Spark, a shopping mall with a theme park. It is the second outlet to be launched outside Seoul metropolitan area, after the store in Busan, which opened in July 2019. The lot is currently covered with a colorful hoarding art depicting the city’s skyline, for which the company cooperated with Xeva a graffiti arti

Pernod Ricard Korea said Wednesday it has renewed the bottle design of Ballantine’s 30-year, its flagship scotch whisky, and presented a limited edition of a drink ritual kit. According to the liquor maker, the new packaging design has added modern tint to strengthen Ballantine’s 30-year iconic luxuriousness. The new bottle boasts a sleek exterior, and the golden label design stresses its best quality. All of Ballantine’s 17-year, 21-year and 30-year products come with a ren

Homeplus said Wednesday it has partnered with Badajari, a seafood company, to launch a raw fish delivery service on its mobile shopping app. The app, dubbed Homplus Fish market, is a service linked to Noryangjin Fish Market, aimed to expand the distribution network for the traditional market, the company said. The new service offers a same-day delivery of raw fish menus prepared from the Noryangjin Fish Market. An order made before 2 p.m. would be delivered to the customer by 6 to 8 p.m. on

LG Household & Health Care said Tuesday it has gained a business license to sell GlaxoSmithKline’s skin care brand Physiogel in Asia and North America, for 190 billion won ($155 million). Physiogel is a derma cosmetics brand that was launched in Germany, and is sold in a number of countries in Asia, Europe and South America. The company said it plans to strengthen its presence in the global markets with its acquirement of Physiogel, which comes after the company’s takeover o

Lotte Shopping said Tuesday it has introduced a new remote working system for its 3,200 employees working at its headquarters, whereby they can work at home once a week. The retail arm of Lotte Group is the second affiliate to introduce the remote working system, after Lotte Holdings, which initiated the system from May 25. Lotte Department Store, Lotte Supermarket and the e-commerce branch introduced the system from Monday, while Lotte Mart is due to start beginning this month. Lohbs, its h

Amorepacific Group, a leading cosmetics firm here, said Tuesday it has set a new action principle “ABC Spirit” for employees in South Korea and around the world to share. Holding a proclamation ceremony at the Seoul headquarter in Seoul on Monday, the company’s Chairman Suh Kyung-bae announced the “five action plans” connected with the ABC spirit, to its employees in both South Korea and overseas branches. “I will do my best to get through this period of

Following the global popularity of chapaguri -- instant noodle dish that came into the limelight due to Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” -- Nongshim said Monday it is participating in auctions to purchase kelps, a key ingredient, to meet surging demand. Chapaguri is a mixture of Nongshim’s Chapaghetti black bean instant noodle and Neoguri, a soup-based instant noodle. The menu was translated as “ram-don” in English subtitles in the movie. According to No

BAT Korea has opened applications for its talent-fostering competition BAT Do-Dream on Monday, setting this year’s theme as “Environment and social activities for a better tomorrow.” The tobacco firm started its talent competition in 2017, where participants pitch their goal activities, such as writing a scenario or starting a new business, and the company selects a number of teams and provides financial support. On Friday, BAT Korea held a BAT Do-Dream Talk Concert in Seou

Amorepacific, a leading cosmetics manufacturer here, launched Enough Project on Monday, a vegan-friendly lifestyle brand highlighting practicality. Under the new brand, Amorepacific presented seven new products including cleansing oil, essential lotion products and sun screen. The products are all vegan-friendly, with no animal testing and no animal-derived ingredients, the company said. According to the company, its main moisturizing cream has beta-hyaluronic acid, which is 1.5 times more a

Samyang Foods said Monday it will open limited sales of the export-version of Buldak Spicy Chicken noodles on its online mall for Korean consumers for the first time. The products include the original Spicy Buldak Chicken noodle, Carbonara Spicy Buldak Chicken noodle, 3X Haek Buldak Spicy Chicken noodle -- known as 3X Fire Noodle among non-Korean speakers -- and Corn Spicy Buldak Chicken noodle. All four products do not include meat-derived ingredients, the company said. While the original a

South Korea’s largest beer maker by revenue, Oriental Brewery said Sunday its YouTube videos starring chef Baek Jong-won have pulled in a total of 13 million views, creating a new boom of “MakCass” -- a mixture of Korea’s traditional liquor makgeolli and OB’s flagship beer Cass. OB released six videos on its channel Cass, dubbed “Essential Beer Class,” starting May 4, where Baek and comedian brothers Yang Se-hyung and Se-chan talk about liquor and beer

Lee Hae-kyun, an office worker in Seoul smokes heat-not-burn e-cigarettes because he is often nauseated by the strong smell of conventional tobacco products. “I have smoked conventional cigarettes for a long time, and still do smoke them occasionally. But turned to Iqos mainly because of the smell,” Lee, 34, told The Korea Herald. “Nonsmokers often think smokers are oblivious to the odor, but many of us find it unpleasant just the same.” Ko Eun-seok, not his real na