"We've waited a year"... November's biggest shopping event of the year kicks off.

Big-box retailers offer half-price groceries
Online retailers offer special deals on electronics and travel
SSG Day sales top 2 trillion won... November turns from an off-season into a shopping bonanza

Korean beef is half price, while winter coats are discounted by up to 70%. Online shopping malls are rolling out special deals on everything from robot vacuum cleaners to hotel vouchers. Retailers are launching their biggest sales of the year in November. The government is also working to boost consumption with discounts on gift certificates and tourism benefits. November, traditionally an off-season for shopping ahead of year-end, has become a major battleground for online and offline retailers.

According to the retail industry on October 30, E-Mart, Traders and E-Mart Everyday will run "SSG Day" through November 8. Lotte Mart will hold "Mega Tongkeun" through November 11. Online, Naver will run "Neopda Sale" through November 8, while 11st will hold "Grand 11th Festival" from November 1 to 11. Lotte Outlets and Malls will also hold "Surprice Week" from October 30 through November 8.

Big-box retailers offer half-price groceries

Big-box retailers are focusing on lowering fresh food prices to draw customers into their stores. They are highlighting popular grocery items that customers buy often but that can be costly, such as Korean beef and pork belly. For the first three days of the event, E-Mart has prepared 160 tons of Korean beef, its largest-ever volume for an event, and will sell all cuts at half price when customers pay with participating cards. Lotte Mart will also offer a 50% discount on all Grade 1 Korean beef during the first week when customers pay with participating cards. Domestic abalone will be sold at 60% off the regular price through November 1. The strategy is to draw in grocery shoppers first by cutting prices on popular food items.

E-Mart has lined up SSG Day promotional products, including portable screens, premium whisky and camping collaboration products. It has broadened its product selection so customers who come to buy groceries will also purchase electronics and household goods. According to E-Mart, SSG Day sales rose from about 1.7 trillion won in 2023 to about 2 trillion won in 2024, and also reached about 2 trillion won last year. Lotte Mart has secured more than double the volume of home meal replacement products, which saw sales rise 40% year over year during its event in the first half of the year. In the second week, it will switch its featured items to pork belly and pork shoulder, as well as half-price bagged oysters, to encourage repeat visits.

Online retailers offer exclusive deals on electronics and travel

Online malls are targeting postponed spending with big-ticket items such as electronics and travel. Because prices are easy to compare, they are combining exclusive deals with coupons and reward points to lower the final purchase price. 11st is highlighting robot vacuum cleaners, massage chairs, large-screen TVs and refrigerators. It will also sell packages combining accommodation, dining and leisure activities at Paradise City and Jeju Shilla Hotel, with offers varying by date. Travel products are another key battleground: at last year's event, accommodation vouchers for Shilla Monogram Gangneung and Paradise City Incheon alone brought in more than 2.5 billion won in combined sales.

While 11st is drawing in customers with exclusive offers on selected products, Naver is capturing demand with a wide product selection and membership benefits. More than 13,000 stores are taking part in Neopda Sale, up 30% from the previous year, and will showcase about 10 million products at special prices. Coupons will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis three times a day, alongside member-only rewards and discounts. According to Naver, sales during Neopda Sale exceeded 1 trillion won in both the second half of last year and the first half of this year.

11st has introduced a feature that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze and summarize product descriptions and post-purchase reviews. The aim is to reduce the time customers spend searching for and comparing products, and turn that into completed purchases.

Outlet malls are moving to capture demand for winter clothing before the cold sets in. Lotte Outlets are offering an additional discount of up to 30% off existing selling prices, while a separate special sale on winter outerwear will offer discounts of up to 70% on items such as down jackets. Character pop-ups and food and beverage discounts will also attract families looking for a day out.

November, once an off-season, becomes a trillion-won shopping bonanza

Overseas shopping events have played a major role in turning November into a peak month for discounts. As the U.S. Black Friday sale became known among cross-border online shoppers and China's Singles' Day on November 11 grew into a major shopping event, Korean retailers launched competing sales. Domestic retailers expanded their own discount events to capture demand for overseas online purchases, and bring forward year-end spending. 

Since its launch in 2008, 11st has marked November 11 as "11st Day" with a special sale. It turned a date linked to the company's name into a shopping opportunity. Starting in 2017, it extended the event to run from November 1 to 11. After launching "Monthly 11th Festival" on the 11th of each month in 2019, it named its November event "Grand 11th Festival" in 2022. Since last year, it has also held Grand 11th Festival in May, but November remains its main event. Last November, cumulative visits to Grand 11th Festival topped 24 million, including repeat visits. About 300 products generated sales of at least 100 million won during the event.

The government is also bringing discount events together to boost domestic demand. The Korea Grand Festival, running through November 15, brings together consumption-boosting events organized by different ministries, including K-Sale Festa, the Donghaeng Festival and the Lodging Sale Festa. More than 40,000 companies are participating this year. While companies attract customers with their own discounts and exclusive products, the government is using benefits on gift certificates, accommodations and tourism to spread spending to traditional markets and local commercial districts as well.

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, retail sales growth during last year's joint event was 6.3%, 2.3 percentage points higher than the 4.0% recorded the year before. This year, the discount rate on local love gift certificates will receive an additional 5-percentage-point boost through national government funding. From November 2 to 6, the discount rate on Digital Onnuri Gift Certificates will rise from 7% to 10%.

The government also aims to build synergies with local commercial districts. The joint opening event, to be held this year in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, plans to direct visitors to nearby businesses to make purchases, rather than concentrating spending at sales booths inside the event venue. The goal is to ensure that increased spending generated by the sales events translates into revenue for local shops. A government official said, "This event is designed to stimulate consumption during the off-season ahead of year-end and serve as a bridge to sustain it through the end of the year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.