Luxury Goods Market of South Korea Growing Rapidly

South Korea's luxury goods market is continuing to grow regardless of COVID-19 and this growth is being led by those in their 20s and 30s.

According to global market research firm Euromonitor International, the size of the market was more than US$12.5 billion last year, the seventh-largest in the world. Last year, the global luxury goods sales dropped 19 percent but the market size was close to that recorded in the previous year. The combined sales of Hermes Korea, Louis Vuitton Korea and Chanel Korea amounted to 2.5 trillion won last year.

In that period, Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Stores’ sales fell 9.8 percent from a year ago but their luxury goods sales increased 15.1 percent. This year, their luxury goods sales jumped 21.9 percent in January, 45.7 percent in February, 89 percent in March and 57.5 percent in April.

Those in their 20s and 30s accounted for 10.9 percent and 39.8 percent of Shinsegae Department Store’s luxury goods sales last year, respectively. In Galleria Department Store, the combined ratio exceeded 30 percent for the first time last year.

The online market is growing rapidly, too. According to Euromonitor International, this market grew 11 percent to 1,595.7 billion won last year and the proportion of the online market to the entire luxury goods market rose from 8.6 percent to 10.6 percent from 2015 to 2020.